A Florida mayor is working to salvage his city’s St Patrick’s Day parade after it was canceled to comply with a new Republican law banning municipalities from hosting events deemed to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
The state’s hard right governor Ron DeSantis signed the law in April that takes effect on 1 January, prompting the city of Delray Beach, near Fort Lauderdale, to announce it was scrapping next year’s popular Irish celebration that regularly attracts tens of thousands of visitors, and also its Pride event.
Restrictions imposed by the new state law, the city said in a statement, “include certain programming and activities designed or implemented with reference to ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity”.
Delray officials determined they were “legally prohibited from organizing, funding, or promoting these events in 2027”.
The decision to axe the St Patrick’s and Pride events angered residents and local business owners who faced missing out on what are traditionally among their most lucrative weekends of the year.
Tom Carney, the Delray Beach mayor, said in a post on Facebook that he received numerous messages from people outraged by the cancellations. He said he was working “feverishly” with city officials to find a way to restore the March celebration with private funding.
“The St Patrick’s Day Parade isn’t just another parade. It’s engrained in the DNA of the Delray Beach community,” he said.
“I’ve read your social media posts, received your emails and it is clear that the parade means as much to you in the community as it does to me. With that, I’d like to announce that the city is working feverishly with multiple entities to ensure the 2027 St Patrick’s Day parade goes on as scheduled!”
Carney said he could not give details yet but would provide regular updates. “For those who live, work and play in Delray, we want the Delray Beach St Patrick’s Day parade to stay,” he wrote.
The DEI law, formally known as Florida Senate Bill 1134, was among a flurry of rightwing legislation passed by Florida’s Republican supermajority in the final full year of DeSantis’s tenure as governor.
Other extremist DEI measures passed during DeSantis’s eight years in the governor’s mansion include efforts to ban drag shows, restricting LGBTQ+ rights, and ending DEI programs at state colleges and universities.
Other Florida cities are assessing their positions, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported, but so far no other events are known to have been cancelled.
The new law does not apply to events staged on federal holidays celebrating or promoting ethnic diversity, including Martin Luther King Day in January, Juneteenth, or Indigenous Peoples’ Day in October.
