"Boston St Patrick's Day parade boycotted by Mayor Marty Walsh over LGBT float exclusion"

"The Irish-American mayor of Boston boycotted the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday after organisers would not allow a group of LGBT campaigners to join the march."

Mayor Marty Walsh tried and failed to negotiate a deal with the conservative Allied War Veteran’s Council to allow members of MassEquality, one of the state of Massachusetts’s largest gay activist groups, to join the parade.

The Council argued that to do so would conflict with their Roman Catholic heritage.

“So much of our Irish history has been shaped by the fight against oppression,” Walsh, the city's first Irish-American mayor in 20 years, said in a statement.

“As mayor of the city of Boston, I have to do my best to ensure that all Bostonians are free to participate fully in the civic life of our city.

"Unfortunately, this year, the parties were not able to come to an understanding that would have made that possible," he added.

Why would an organization want to join people who don't want them?

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is also boycotting the St. Patrick's day parade in New York over the policy to ban marchers who carry gay-pride banners.