According to Jim Smith, the director of Miss Staten Island Scholarship Pageants, the parade’s organizer Larry Cummings notified him of the decision late Saturday night. In addition to L'Insalata, another unidentified pageant queen who supports her was also banned from participating in the parade, CBS News reported.
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"I am proud of Staten Island and I am proud of the title that I have because I know that myself and all the other girls involved do a lot of really great things for our community. So it's a shame that this really great community event, we ended up not being allowed to be a part of,” L'Insalata is quoted as telling CBS News.
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade has received criticism in the past for not permitting the Pride Center of Staten Island to participate with its owner banner.
In an interview with the Staten Island Advance last month, Cummings said his decision to bar the Pride Center of Staten Island from marching with a banner is because “it’s a non-sexual identification parade, and that’s that.”
According to local councilman Joseph Borelli, he was also banned from participating in the parade over a clothing pin of the gay pride flag.
"They [the parade marshals] physically blocked me, my wife and two boys in strollers," Borelli told SILive.
“They called the police on me. I spoke to a sergeant and was not going to make the life of our cops more complicated to prove a point. … I didn’t come with it looking for an argument; my friends handed a pin to me. I really didn’t think it was a big affront to the Irish,” he told the outlet.
