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In their seven years in the neighborhood, Foster and Martin, the two men spearheading the neighborhood float, became active in the St. “That hasn’t been true in a long time.”Ī building boom in the Lower End has forged strong bonds between newcomers and longtime residents. “They used to say that the South End is 3 miles and 30 years from Southie,” said Paul Smith, a 42-year-old Irish Catholic who wears a scally cap, has lived in both neighborhoods, and is gay. The migration came in part as real estate prices climbed in the nearby South End, once the epicenter of Boston’s gay community.
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Many of them happen to be gay,” said Linehan, the city councilor. “There are more people moving in from the South End. The grid of rectangular blocks had traditionally been home to factories, warehouses, and a tightly knit enclave of working-class families. The Lower End is the side of South Boston closest to the rest of the city, where the neighborhood bumps against a rail yard and the Southeast Expressway. We didn’t come in and fly a big gay flag outside our house.
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Patrick’s Day party steps from the parade route. Everybody knew each other,” said Warner, who hosts a St. “We really loved South Boston because it had a tight-knit, family feel. Like many others, they were drawn by the relative affordability of housing and the neighborhood’s unique identity. That included Sameer Bhoite and David Warner, a couple for 17 years who bought a home on K Street in 2002. But an influx of young professionals also brought waves of new gay residents. Some gay residents endured hostility in the aftermath of the ruling, but remained in the neighborhood and have long been eager for healing. In the two decades since the court ruling, South Boston has undergone tremendous change while clinging fiercely to its identity. The application noted that “this small token of wearing a unique scarf would allow us to move toward inclusion.” Marchers are expected to wear suits and ties or other business attire accented with a scarf to celebrate the diversity of South Boston.Īcceptable scarves - which were agreed to by marchers and parade organizers - include colors of any national flag, a peace sign, a rainbow for diversity, or an equal sign for gay rights. In its parade application, the Lower End contingent described its entry as a “diversity float” that would welcome people of all races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. “There are other ways to do things, even if they are not as public, not as volatile, and not as contentious.” “It just seemed the timing was right this year for a new change,” Linehan said, noting that Boston had a new mayor, Mahoney is chief marshal, and there was interest in marching from two local groups with gay members. Foster has lived in South Boston for seven years. Randy Foster (left), with his husband, Steve Martin, in South Boston. Of outside gay groups coming in and hoping to march, he said: “How in the world do you ever get compromise if the first statement out of your mouth is, ‘I'm different than you?’ ” “They know us as their neighbors first and as gay second,” said Foster, an Air Force veteran who served in Desert Storm and who has lived with his husband in South Boston for seven years.
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And they have been embraced by the Allied War Veterans Council, the parade’s longtime sponsor. Many of the people working on the float just happen to be gay. They are marching as South Boston residents who have coalesced around building a park in a corner of the neighborhood known as the Lower End. It’s a great thing you’re doing.”įoster and his friends and neighbors are not marching Sunday as part of a gay organization. “On behalf of the Allied War Veterans, I’d like to present you with your acceptance,” Mahoney said, handing Foster a thick, white envelope. Mahoney wore a shamrock tie and flipped aviator-style sunglasses up on his forehead. Mahoney, the parade’s chief marshal, bounded into the chilly warehouse. Last weekend as work had just begun on the flatbed, Brian R.