Ah yes, renowned super sacred Catholic pilgrimage site, St. Patrick’s Cathedral https://twitter.com/jamesagagliano/status/1266889713501310976

Not so fun fact about Saint Patrick’s: for several years during the 80s, the city refused to allow Dignity-New York, a group of gay Catholics, to peacefully demonstrate on the steps of the Cathedral during the pride parade. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/637/851/2342014/

The city’s justification for forbidding Dignity-New York from peacefully assembling on the sidewalk in front of the Cathedral? Fears of potential violence, coming from anti-gay protestors.

The threat of potential violence was real, but it wasn’t the fault of Dignity-New York. Rather, the threats came from anti-gay counter protesters, many of whom were on record as saying they viewed the *presence* of gay people on the steps of St. Patrick’s as a “desecration.”

In 1981, Andrew McCauley, one of the founders of a small vigilante group called The Committee to Defend St. Patrick’s, attacked the Grand Marshal of the Pride Parade, as the Marshal attempted to lay flowers on the Cathedral’s steps.

Notably, Macaulay testified that he was motivated by a desire to protect the Cathedral from “blasphemy” and “sacrilege.”

Dignity-New York’s attempts peacefully protest on the sidewalk was litigated over several years, but the 1986 Olivieri v. Ward case specifically dealt with the narrow issue with f the constitutionality of the police’s decision to prevent sidewalk use at the 1986 parade.

During the proceedings, the police conceded on record that their main motivation for the freeze was that the protesters considered the presence of gay Catholics to be a “desecration,” and they would not have implemented the freeze if not for this issue.