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Breaking: Wacko Hurley has gay friends

And his wife declares he's not a bigot. Glad that's settled.

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you mean you're GLADD that's settled.

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Adam, nearly every single thread on this site about Southie is foolish click-bait... As a lifelong resident who checks UHub multiple times a day (because I enjoy knowing whats actually going on around Boston) this has become incredibly annoying.

Yes, for the record, I do realize this comment just further feeds the click-bait puppet master but oh well, cant win em all.

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Adams shtick is getting old fast.

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We'll miss you so much.

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Keeping gay people out of the St. Patrick's Day parade for 20 years is getting pretty old, too.

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been kept out of the parade for 10 year, their agenda has. I personally know a hand full of gay guys who i have marched with over the year as proud vets and not as assholes trying to force their lifestyle down a spectators throat!

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I see you received the "right wing/conservative/sincerely held religious beliefs" memo
about using the phrase "forcing down one's throat." when
expressing "outrage".
Please be advised that phrase has become an indication of
deeply repressed desires of the expressor of said phrase and perhaps a cry for help
in relevant areas of one's personal life.
No charge today because's it's Friday.

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LOL agenda

1. coordinate drapes and rugs
2. be able to get married
3. RUIN EVERYTHING STRAIGHT FOREVER

#mbta

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running stories about the bigotry in your own back yard, you can always vote with your feet.

Pardon my skepticism about the inclusiveness of Wacko's St. Paddy's open house.

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Bigotry towards Catholics and Irish Americans.

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"On a website that Promotes Catholics and Irish Americans calling out bigotry by Catholics and Irish Americans."

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Read a few of the thread! Open and blatant derogatory comments are on every single thread.

Name calling is not "calling out" someone, its racist bigotry!

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It is an accurate description.

Especially when neither the religion or culture said bigot is hiding behind requires or even endorses said bigotry.

Especially when many of the people calling out that bigotry share that culture and religion.

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then Universal Hub might be a little too deep for you. Sounds like the Herald is more your speed.

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The vast majority of REAL Irish Catholics, you know, the ones from IRELAND (not plastic paddies) don't agree with you, and frankly, don't even like you.

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Irish pronunciation is fook you.

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Bravo to this brave man and outstanding American for standing up to the PC police and not crumbling like so many others do.
•Gays have always been a part if the parade.
•Their sexuality Is a non issue.
•There is no need to proclaim ones sexuality at a parade.
•This parade (lawfully so) prohibits reference to sexuality. (Pro-hetero group also denied)
•No one (straight/gay) is allowed to express their sexuality in parade = equality

Why you bleeding heart numbskulls can't seem to get these few points through your enlightened brains is simply beyond me.

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Congratulations on the nobility of your freedom-fighting cause. You still haven't figured out that you're a future embarrassment to your grandchildren.

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that ONE guy would wanted to march?

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The veteran's for peace are anything but.

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So my friend who has served and has had his sons deployed multiple times - and as organized events for Veterans for Peace. He doesn't exist?

Or does your tiny little mind not fathom that former soldiers can possibly disagree with anything but kill kill kill?

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It's unfortunate that they lied on the application as it just made matters worse. My understanding is there was only one veteran in the group that agreed to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade, and the other people were not. I believe that is what that poster is referring to

It's too bad because they were coming close to an agreement.

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Mr. Arrondondo and his wife Melida Arrondondo are the Grand Marshalls for this years St. Patrick's Peace parade. Is a man who risks his life for a stranger a fraud? Courageous, brave, perhaps even nobly reckless might be accurate adjectives but I doubt if the word fraud fits at all.

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Is that one of his sons died while in service to his country.

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My favorite part of the internet is the fact that most folks think it's transient and unarchivable, simply because it's too vast. How I will laugh when Mr. DelVecchio discovers that his bigotry will be forever recorded for future generations to shake their heads sadly at.

Keep tilting at that windmill, fella. I'm sure the world will come to its senses and start oppressing everyone who isn't exactly like you, just like it did in the good old days.

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My comment is bigoted against who exactly? Keep denying the opinions of everyone who doesn't have views exactly like you. Such an open minded, enlightened thinker you are Sir.

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Still waiting on an answer. Bigoted against whom Sir?

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Has more balls than most of the "men" here. One veteran who has fought so that you know it alls can disagree with the Supreme Court.
I can't wait for the next snowstorm so you can get on to another subject.

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than in the Allied War a Veterans Group.

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Is it Adam's fault that this story appeared on page 2 of the Herald today? Is it his fault that the parade has been in the papers and on the TV news for the past 2 weeks?

There are theoretically 2 sides to this issue, with thankfully people in between, but it is newsworthy.

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All the more reason not to bring attention to it... might as well be in the tabloids. LGBT issues typically spark irrational banter (NOT productive debate) between two very opinionated sides; media sources post/print these things because they know people will read them, not because they are noteworthy. The parade is always in the news this time of year because its a considerably large event that continues to attract more and more people each year; this type of publicity is exactly why organizations like Mass Equality want to capitalize on. In all honestly I don't think they give a damn about marching its simply the fact the parade organizers are being (rightfully) resistant that makes them care. All this really boils down to is a childish "No you can't. Yes we can" shit-slinging contest that was supposed to be settled in the Supreme Court almost 20 years ago.

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organizers say, "No, you can't." It's hard to scratch below the surface of that question without encountering some ugly homophobia. Yes, it's a private event, or so says the court, but it's an awfully public private event. It's not like they're renting a hall to do it; it attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators and is held on city boulevards.

I think it's a transparent canard to say, "Oh, MassEquity is just seeking publicity", like they want to be famous for fame's sake. When you're an advocacy group fighting discrimination, it's your job to call attention to that discrimination when it's part of some big public event (even if the organizers don't take public funds for it). The organizers and their defenders are using exactly the kinds of excuses used to justify other kinds of bigotry in the past: "It's not your affair, think of the children, our god says it's a sin, we're only parading for this very specific reason and nothing else", and so on.

Inevitably, the kind of people who accept those excuses are going to die off or face increasing social opprobrium. Looks like 2014 isn't that year, but it's not far off. This might be the St Paddy's Day bigots' last big party on the public dime.

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I was noting that it wasn't that Adam was seeking out anti-Southie materials, just that he probably grabbed his Herald this morning, saw reference to the article on the front page, turned to page 2, and there it was.

The Globe (my later in the day paper) also had a column saying that Walsh is still working with both sides on a solution. Not as racy as a visit to the Hurley house, but there it was.

I am glad Boston is a 2 paper town. You get more voices and in the end see more. However, if you are happy with only one voice being out there, so be it. Did anyone actually read the story, or is it more fun to comment without knowing the content?

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media sources post/print these things because they know people will read them, not because they are noteworthy.

If people are willing to read them, then it sounds noteworthy to me.

Whenever I post several things about a topic that generates a lot of comments (see: bicycles), I'm inevitably accused of clickbaiting and pandering.

OK, whatever, but, no, I'm not standing in the bridge of the SS UHub with binoculars trawling for trollbait. "Pshaw!" you say, but no.

In the present case, I' ve linked to a bunch of stuff about the parade because, as a reporter/editor, I find the whole issue very interesting and, yes, noteworthy - here you have one neighborhood where the major parade is run by people that specifically ban another group of people from that parade. Doesn't happen (that I know of) in Roslindale, definitely not in Dorchester (where the DotOut float is usually one of the highlights). There's simply been more news about the issue this year, thanks to the will they/won't they/Mayor Walsh angle.

Aside from the journalistic/bloggish angle, yes, I'll admit I'd much rather go to an inclusionary Dorchester parade than a homophobic/hypocritical South Boston parade (guys: Cut the crap - if you really only wanted to support the troops and your Irish heritage, you'd be banning the Imperial storm troopers right alongside the gays). That's not why I'm posting what I do, but, yes, it explains the tone of some headlines and such.

In any case, please don't equate the number of comments with the number of page views the site gets. Yes, a post with 100 comments will get more page views than a post with none. But in purely mercenary terms, i.e., page views (since, yes, I run ads, so the more page views the better), I see a lot more traffic from a post that gets linked to from Reddit (amazingly, not everybody on Reddit uses ad blocking), which gets re-tweeted a lot or which is something I've never written about before.

As an example, the page with the most views today (not including the home page, which is almost always the top page) is for the post on somebody afraid to move to Roslindale - with roughly 60% more views than this here thread - followed by the later-hours-for-bars post and then the one about the alleged drunk who started in the Theater District and ended in Dorchester.

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adjective

: important or interesting enough to be noticed : deserving attention

LGBT issues are indeed noteworthy, but that's not what I am trying to refute. In contrast, sad coaxing attempts to catch Wacko on record admitting he's a bigot do not deserve attention. Due to the fact that public displays of sexuality of any kind during the parade are forbidden this situation should be a non issue. Gay people have marched and will continue to march in the parade comfortably... how can you write that they, as a group, are specifically being banned? Mass Equality is choosing not to march because they don't like the rules set forth by the organizers of a private event... so be it, but why does that automatically mean the rules are wrong and the organizers are bigoted? I'll tell you why, because the event is being held in none other than South Boston. Easy target I'll admit but until the parade is officially being held in "SoBo", not Southie, this is probably how its going to be. Why aren't the opinions of people who are gay, enjoy marching, and are perfectly fine with the limitations being so widely disseminated by media outlets? Seems to me like there's a serious "if it bleeds (rainbow colors) it leads" journalistic mentality afoot. Fighting for equality is admirable, creating an issue to fight about is not; the world has enough drama already (see: space savers).

P.s. some guy named Obama was at a fundraiser in Southie recently, newsworthy event in my opinion...

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Honeybun, when a fellow and his gal (married, cohabitating or in any case more than just "friends") are holding hands they are engaged in a public display of sexuality. Parents who are standing with the children are displaying their sexuality (babies don't come from storks anymore sweetheart).

MassEquality and Gay groups prior who have wanted to march in the parade were actually not displaying their sexuality. They were engaged in the most important activity that any group treated with contempt and hatred for most of the century can do: present themselves as just like anyone else. But why must they have a sign in a parade or anywhere? Why must marching bands have signs? It's obvious that a marching ban is a marching ban. They march and play band instruments. Why must veteran's groups specifically identify themselves? If they have the hats and uniforms then they are easily recognized. But if a group of Gay people are marching as well how would they be identified? Bystanders could only say, "Who are they?"

Now as mentioned there is Darth Vader and his Singing and Swaying Stormtroopers. For folks denying that this group exists have a look at the photo gallery on the parade's website. What do they have to do with St. Patrick or veterans? Are they commemorating the Wars of Aggression Against the True and Noble Benevolent Empire by the Evil Galactic Rebels? Darth Vader represented the goal of eliminating any opposition to an emperor cum dictator. Not unlike certain other historical figures who over the centuries tried to create empires; not unlike a certain government leader today who is carving out a little more for his empire. Why include a group of people who represent a fictitious government that engaged in, given the use of the Death Star, genocide? Or perhaps that is over thinking? On the other hand, as an aside, at the least it might represent a willful ignorance by refusing to reflect on what a given group of people represents (not exactly an unAmerican approach).

But maybe the inclusion of a group that represents - at a fictional level - the prosecution of a war of aggression is because this parade fundamentally exists to celebrate not just veterans but the reason that veterans exist: to engage in war and violence. Why else would the parade exclude bona fide veteran's who stand and march for peace instead of war?

I don't believe that the exclusion of a Gay groups from this parade is focused specifically on excluding Gay groups. I believe that it is about maintaining an identity that evolved out of two streaks of Boston society: one which is narrow and exclusive: Irish American Catholic and the other which celebrates war and aggression.

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Trying to belittle my argument by calling me "Honeybun" and "sweetheart" doesn't help strengthen your point... btw, what is your point? You argue that Mass Equality wants to march just like any other group in the parade but... NOBODY IS PREVENTING THEM FROM DOING SO. If they want to blend in and not be perceived differently then why do they want to be able to stand out by displaying their homosexuality? Anybody who stands up for gay rights deserves to march... anybody who thinks that holding a sign proclaiming one's sexuality is necessary to do so is simply being irrational.

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This is a parade that celebrates a narrow, local identity which is more exclusive than inclusive. It excludes people who advocate for peace (Veterans for Peace) but includes people who represent war and destruction (fanboys of Darth Vader). It includes groups that hate homosexuals (such as the religious school that threatened to not join the parade) but excludes groups that advocate for a larger and more inclusive society (such as Mass Equality).

My point is that as an institution this parade represents too much of the worst of American culture and not enough of its best.

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It is extremely tiresome. I really enjoy UHub when it has actual news, but I'm finding myself more often than not going elsewhere these days for news because of this.

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Pray, do enlighten us on where else you go for "news"?

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Where did I say anything about "Big Gay" appearing or not?
The general anti-Southie bias on this site is remarkable. I typically try to avoid news sources that I find have a glaring bias.

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Agree. Yawn....zzzzz. Getting old!

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How is it that calling out a jerk and a bigot for being a jerk and a bigot is "Southie bashing" or "Catholic bashing"? Really?

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Bells Seasoning. Use it on friggin everything.

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"nom nom nom" said the trolls

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You would be surprised at how many of South Boston's younger vets from the Iraq/Afghan War are joining the Allied War Veterans. They have dozens of young new members just this year alone. Wacko Hurley's support spans across all age groups.

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Really? Why did they have to develop the lot next to them to pay the bills?

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Any proof? I could say a lot of people have left the group...

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You could say it, but you really don't know, do you? Guessing isn't knowing. Their roster is no secret. At each event run by the Allied War Veterans leading up to St.Pat's/Evacuation Day, and they run many events, not just the parade, the younger vets are present and active with set up ,organizing and running the events. They are clearly in plain sight and quite proud of being part of the group. Pay attention and you will learn.

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You need to get your facts straight before you speak/write. That post you speak of is the 'Thomas Fitzgerald Post on Emerson Street, a VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) post. That is not the Allied War Veteran's Post. They are not the same organization.

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That's the Fitzgerald Post. And the land was made into condos so you Yuppies ,who love to bad mouth Southie , can move here so you can tell your college friends you are "from" Southie.
Good Will Hunting was a movie, not real life.

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But how come whenever we hear "I don't hate [class of people]! I have lots of [class of people] friends!", we never actually hear a show of support and confirmation from one of said [class of people] friends?

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The "official" reason for banning Teh Gayz is because they want to keep the parade "family-friendly", yes?

1) Seems to me a bunch of fully-clad MassEquality volunteers is more family-friendly than a couple scantily-clad PETA volunteers.

2) Darth Vader was directly responsible for slaughtering many innocent families on Alderaan alone. And his Stormtroopers march heavily armed.

3) I'm Irish-American. That side of my family of origin is Catholic. And yet, I still wouldn't be welcome to march with my female spouse and kid. So they're not actually interested in being friendly to ALL families.

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I attempted to link to a couple photos. Let me try it this way.

Re: Item 1 above: http://parade.smugmug.com/Events/Southie-Parade/18375272_VwHz8D/27154277...

Re: Item 2 above: http://parade.smugmug.com/Events/Southie-Parade/18375272_VwHz8D/14160355...

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So, you are claiming that PETA marched in the official parade. There isn't a chance that perhaps PETA people showed up and stood at a corner to forward their cause. Maybe? Are you really claiming that the South Boston Allied War Veterans want PETA to march in their parade?

As for the imperial troopers, look, some might be gay, some might not be, who knows? Maybe they all are. I don't know imperial policies that well. All we do know is that they served the empire well. It's not their fault the policies of Emperor Palpatine lead to the demise of Alderon. The average stormtrooper doesn't deal with these things. All they know about is white uniforms.

As for your third point, that has been debated ad infinitum I've nothing to add.

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I did make the assumption that, since the PETA ladies are in the official parade photo gallery, they were in fact part of the parade. I may well be mistaken.

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I come from a very large extended Irish family with strong Dorchester roots. There are a few gay members in my family. We've discussed this issue (I've tried to stay away since it's just repetitive noise at this point) and the gay members of my family don't understand the fuss. If they go to the parade, its because they are Irish, and it's been family tradition for decades. The fact that they are gay is really the last thing on anyones mind. We've had huge parties for years because we were brought up to embrace our Irish culture as our grandparents were immigrants.

At least that's how this family celebrates our St. Patrick's holiday. We never gave any thought to anyones identity, we just came together, had some good food and drink and enjoyed each others company as well as many stories of the old sod. When some of our relatives from Ireland happened to be here during the festitivites years ago, they couldn't believe it for at home, they went to Mass.

At this point, I can't wait until it's over.

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This is the way the parade should be. Not a dick swinging contest over who gets to be more special.

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on the parade issue. Nice friends you got there, Wacko defenders!

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What is it with the growing obsession with the Boston Herald comment section?

Does it somehow make you feel superior? I just don't get it......

I've perused the comment section before, funny I see familiar names as those who post here. They post there and then post here to say how bad it is over there.

Some kind of internal struggle, I assume.

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of hateful, brain-dead Neanderthals isn't reflective of an obsession. It's like saying, "Sure is cold out today."

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But you continue to check them out.... why?:

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My browser's ad blockers and ghosting feature conveniently block Herald comments. But as that Dig excerpt shows, some things never change. I'd add "sub-literate", too: many commenters seem to have dropped out in fourth grade.

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I've sat idly by while many here have bashed my audience. Herald readers help to pay my bills, so I'd consider myself less than honorable if I didn't comment. As one of the semi-regular authors on the editorial pages, I've received ONE flame; the remainder of the comments I've received have been mostly to the point, complimentary, literate and not mean-spirited. One or two have taken off on a tangent I wouldn't have expected, but that happens in all such public fora.

I realize my stuff doesn't necessarily invite controversy, but all commentary varies. It depends upon the subject matter, the presentation style, the author, and other mitigating factors, same as here. Citing specifics is always fair game, but lumping all Herald readers into some nebulous pool of subhumans is neither accurate nor fair.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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First, the Globe comments are no Algonquin Roundtable. Second, there was that article in the Herald last year about a Veteran's Square in Roslindale, a sweet and touching story, that brought out all sorts of trolls around these parts. I guess some people have a level of smuggishness that lends to looking down their noses at the Herald.

I've said it before, I'm happy to be living in a 2 newspaper town, and since the Boring Broadsheet was on life support (allegedly) a few years back, I think we should all be happy to have them both.

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> Second, there was that article in the Herald last year about a Veteran's Square in Roslindale,
> a sweet and touching story, that brought out all sorts of trolls around these parts.

And a lot of anti-trolls who also thought it was a wonderful story...

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Oh, there were folks here that thought the story was great, but the Herald didn't have the oddly negative commenting (it was a piece about a dead veteran, for chrissakes) that some people, not the majorityby a long shot, posted here.

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The parade supporters page has been down for a day now.
http://www.southbostonparade.org/index-4.html#partners
Gilette, Hailo, and the Westin pulled their support before this, it will be interesting to see who is left when they put the page back online. Last I saw it was Sam Adams, GoDaddy and a bunch of Southie restaurants and bars. Hopefully Sam Adams will smarten up and pull their support so its just southie being southie.

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MORE interesting and beneficial would be if the parade organizers and the one gay veteran who wished to march reached an agreement in which the veteran was allowed to march openly and was welcome and supported by ALL. I find it sad that you want to accuse an entire neighborhood of being anti-gay. Do you have any nasty across the board judgements to post about Mattapan? How about Charlestown or Hyde Park?

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Found an interesting reference to Stephen Lynch and Hurley. Lynch celebrated Hurley on the floor of the House of Representatives in 2009. Lynch gave a nice speech about how Wacko is a great humanitarian. http://capitolwords.org/date/2009/03/04/E544-2_in-honor-of-john-joseph-w...

Unfortunately Lynch included the following fiction:

John also brought to the United States Supreme Court the case (John J. Hurley v. GLIB) that affirmed the First Amendment right of the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council to organize a private parade. He won a victory with a 9-0 vote. This law can now be found in every law book in the country.

My understanding is the case affirmed the right of the organization to ban groups. That they could organize a parade was never in dispute. But then pointing out that the purpose was to ban a group of people that Hurley, et al. disliked doesn't sound as nice.

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says the Herald.

“If I think the veterans, all the veterans, including the gay veterans, have been treated fairly, then I’ll consider marching,” Lynch said yesterday. “If I think that they’ve been treated unfairly, I’d probably decline the opportunity to march.”

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