http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/03/st-patrick-parades-held-us-amid-gay-row-2014317201151506795.htmlAl-Jazeera English, no author listed
About one million spectators, [. . .] streamed into New York for its St Patrick's Day Parade, even as the city's mayor and beer companies that previously sponsored the event dropped out after organisers excluded gay groups.
Parade organisers in New York and Boston, two of the most liberal US cities, have long excluded openly gay marchers, saying that doing so would conflict with the Roman Catholic heritage of the events.
Threatened boycotts by gay rights groups in the days leading up to the events prompted sponsors of the New York and Boston parades to drop their financial backing for the event.
