DeBlasio Vows Not to March in Any Parade that Isn't LGBT Inclusive

Making good on his promise to stand with all New Yorkers, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced this weekend that he and his wife Chirlane McCray, will not march in any parade that excludes the city's LGBT community. The announcement came after the mayor marched in the Twilight Pride Parade in Brooklyn where he was a grand marshal, CBS New York reports.

"You will see Chirlane at this parade, and me at this parade, but you will not see us at a parade that excludes members of the LGBT community," De Blasio said.

The announcement from the mayor echoes statements he made in March when he boycotted the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade up Fifth Avenue due to years of LGBT exclusion by parade organizers. He became the first mayor in 20 years not to take part in the country's largest St. Pat's celebration.

Instead, De Blasio opted to march across the river in Queens as part of the inclusive St. Pat's for All Parade where, according to the Sunnyside Post, he told the crowd that the parade celebrates diversity, inclusion and unity and that is what this city is about."

On Saturday, De Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, led a group of city politicians in the Twilight Parade in his home borough of Brooklyn. Sharing grand marshal duties with his honor were Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Public Advocate Letitia James and City Councilman Carlos Menchaca, the first openly gay councilman in Brooklyn history.