Tolerance and intolerance

Introduction

First, I'm taking the word "gay" back.  It now means being happy with a light heart, as someone would be if he or she, without any pressing duties or worries, was walking through a meadow filled with flowers and birds, with patches of trees with which to get some shade if the warm sun got too hot.

"Intolerance" means an unwillingness to tolerate someone else's beliefs.  I am male.  I have always been male.  A doctor can confirm this.  If you want further proof, an examination of my chromosomes can confirm this.  If you want me to "change my mind" about my gender, you are intolerant.

I desire to have the romantic company of women.  I have desired the romantic company of women since I became an adult.  For ten years before I became an adult, I desired the romantic company of girls my own age.  If you want to change my mind about that, you are intolerant.

There are large numbers of people who also desire the romantic and sexual company of people of the opposite sex.  They know who they are and they are proud of who they are.  If you want to change their mind about that, you are intolerant.

Tomorrow, a group of veterans, called the South Boston Allied War Veteran's Council will honor Boston's Irish roots by holding a parade through Sough Boston.  They love living in Boston.  They love being Irish, at least for one day.  They love being veterans.  Their parade gives them the opportunity to express their triple pride.

A short history of this holiday

This is the reason why they celebrate St. Patrick's Day, copied from their page on the history of the parade. The photo was on their page, but I moved it to a different part of my page.

General John Henry Knox brought the 55 cannons captured at Fort Ticonderoga.  In March, the troops positioned the cannons on Dorchester Heights.

They had cut down trees to cannon size, hollowed them out and blackened them over fire to look like cannons.  Surprise was just around the corner....

On March 17th, 1776, orders were given that if you wish to pass through the continental lines, the password was "St. Patrick". The British had seen all the cannons on the Heights and left Boston.

Dorchester Heights, Boston, MA

The South Boston Allied War Veteran's Council celebrates being Boston residents, being veterans, and being Irish because all those qualities are a part of their history.

The British, fooled by the fake cannons, left the city of Boston.

They evacuated the city.

In 1901, over a century ago, the City of Boston decided to celebrate this historic victory with a parade.  If you want the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council to change the reason for having their parade, or the message of the parade, you are intolerant.

This next text is copied from another page on the website of the South Boston Allied War Veteran's Council.

1901 was the very first celebration of Evacuation or St. Patrick's Day Parade. It was on the 125th Anniversary, on the day General George Washington and the Continental Army forced the British to end the occupancy of Boston.

Defining tolerance and intolerance using examples

Tolerant	Intolerant
Knowing and celebrating who you are.	Trying to convince somebody that they're someone else.
Celebrating living in Boston.	Forcing a Boston resident to celebrate living in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles
Celebrating three Red Sox World Series Championships since 2000 and now a fourth Championship as of 2018.	Forcing Boston residents to say that they'd rather live in New York City.
Celebrating being Irish, at least for a day.  BTW, I'm part-Scottish, and since the Irish and the Scottish are both Gaelic, it's going to be easy for me to join in the celebration.	Forcing a resident of South Boston to celebrate any other heritage on St. Patrick's day.
Celebrating being veterans.	Forcing a veteran to celebrate those who desecrate our country's flag, dishonor those who have served our country in uniform, and those who, while wearing the uniform of their country, disobey the legal orders of their military superiors.
Hosting and taking part in a parade in Boston that celebrates being a Boston resident, being Irish (at least for a day), and being a veteran.	Forcing the South Boston Allied War Veteran's Council to have any other message, political, sexual, or social, in their parade.

News stories about the dispute

These are the first three paragraphs of a March 15, 2014 U.P.I. story.

BOSTON, March 15 (UPI) -- The Boston Beer Company, maker of Sam Adams Beer, has announced it will not be involved in the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade, because gay groups are excluded.

Boston Brewing's decision came after a Boston restaurant, Club Cafe, said it would no longer serve Sam Adams, the Boston Globe reported.  The restaurant's move quickly gathered online support and Boston Beer released a statement Friday saying it was ending its involvement in the parade, scheduled for Sunday.

Participation by homosexual groups has become a hot issue in both Boston and New York this year.

These are the last three paragraphs of the same story.

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio has said he will not participate in the country's largest St. Patrick's parade, set for Monday, and the city council president said individual members can march but there will be no official council president.

In Boston, Mayor Marty Walsh tried to negotiate a settlement that would have allowed a gay veterans group to march.  He has said that as things stand he will not be there.

Organizers of both parades have denied being homophobic and have said gays and lesbians are welcome as individuals.

Remember, the organizers of both parades have the legal right to allow or deny the participation of any group because both parades are political speech and thus protected from the anti-discrimination laws of any state or the United States.

Link to Hurley vs. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc., docket #94-749, decided June 19, 1995 by the U.S. Supreme Court.  This case is published on the Oyez website.

These paragraphs were copied from a website that focuses on legal issues.  Oral arguments in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc. were held on April 25, 1995.  The decision was announced on June 19, 1995.

Q. Did a Massachusetts State Court's mandate to Boston's Veterans' Council, requiring it to include GLIB members in its parade, violate the Council's free speech rights as protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments?

A. Yes. A unanimous court held that the State Court's ruling to require private citizens who organize a parade to include a group expressing a message that the organizers do not wish to convey violates the First Amendment by making private speech subordinate to the public accommodation requirement. Such an action "violate[s] the fundamental First Amendment rule that a speaker has the autonomy to choose the content of his own message and, conversely, to decide what not to say."

Link to two very tolerant press releases by the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council.

This next message is for those of you who, by this definition, are intolerant.

I have a suggestion for you.  You can take it or leave it.

Why don't you find a good lawyer and sue the South Boston Allied War Veteran's Council in court?

As a temporary Irishman, I wish you good luck.  Link to a post that mentions my ancestry.