Australian Prime Minister Gillard Supports “Bible Stories” That Protect Culture From Same Sex Marriage, Chick-fil-A President Cathy “Disappointed” Business Community Wants Little To Do With Anti-Gay Pro-Christian Company, South Boston Gets Traditional St. Pat’s Parade And A Gayer Pacifist Parade, Dutch Soldiers Will Participate In Amsterdam Pride In Full Regalia

In an interview with Saturday with The Daily Telegraph, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard attempted to explain that her posture against same sex marriage was a direct result of her conservative upbringing, Gillard saying she was "on the conservative side" of same sex marriage "because of the way our society is and how we got here,” adding "I think that there are some important things from our past that need to continue to be part of our present and part of our future," she said. "If I was in a different walk of life, if I'd continued in the law and was partner of a law firm now, I would express the same view, that I think for our culture, for our heritage, the Marriage Act and marriage being between a man and a woman has a special status. Now, I know people might look at me and think that's something that they wouldn't necessarily expect me to say, but that is what I believe. I'm on the record as saying things like I think it's important for people to understand their Bible stories, not because I'm an advocate of religion - clearly, I'm not - but once again, what comes from the Bible has formed such an important part of our culture."

In an interview with The St. Louis Post Dispatch, Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-A said he was "disappointed" by the decision of the Clayton Chamber of Commerce and Focus St. Louis to cancel his presentation scheduled for later this week over concerns that the self-proclaimed Christian-ethos company is affiliated with anti-gay organizations. "That decision was based on some inaccurate, really inaccurate information," he said. "They could have called us to verify some of the comments that were made. But for some reason, they chose only to hear one perspective. And that is unfortunate." Cathy said the Georgia-based company doesn't have an "anti-anybody" agenda. "We're a restaurant that has a hospitality that says we're here to embrace everyone who wants to come and be part of Chick-fil-A," he said. "We have a whole spectrum of team members that work with us who are part of the gay and lesbian community. They know as employees of Chick-fil-A that they are welcomed, they are embraced, and they are part of the Chick-fil-A family. So to be identified with some sort of hate group that has a political agenda -- that is not Chick-fil-A at all."

Two St. Patrick's Day parades proceeded in South Boston, the traditional one and, about 45 minutes later, an alternate procession billed as the St. Patrick's Day Peace Parade, reports The Boston Globe. By a court order, the second set of marchers was required to remain at least one mile behind the first, but police seemed to wait even longer to let go the antiwar and gay rights marchers, nearly an hour after the first parade ended. There were no major incidents, following almost two decades of litigation and public debate over who gets to march through the streets of South Boston on the Sunday closest to St. Patrick's Day. In 1992 and again in 1993, gay rights groups that had been excluded by the parade's organizers, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, won a court-ordered right to participate that led to contentious parades, marred by snowballs, obscenities, and spittle. The veterans’ council fought their inclusion all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won a unanimous decision in 1995 that the parade was a form of protected free speech; no one could insist on being included. That decision was tested eight years ago, in the days before the beginning of the Iraq war, when a group known as Veterans for Peace unsuccessfully sought permission to march in the parade. When the organizers denied their application, the anti-war demonstrators were instead waved onto the second half of the route by Boston police, to follow the procession. Again, the organizers sued, and again the courts upheld their right to dictate the list of marchers. But a federal magistrate judge ruled that groups lacking permission from the Allied War Veterans Council could march and follow the same, full parade route, so long as they remained at least a mile apart to tell the difference between the two parades, which led to today. Veterans for Peace coordinator Pat Scanlon, who served in Vietnam, said before the parade that his group had "a desire to be in the [traditional] parade, not outside the parade," but because they were barred from the event by organizers, "we had no other recourse." 24 year old Ian Struthers, a board member of the gay rights group Join the Impact Massachusetts, said it was important to march in the second parade. "It's about equality," said Struthers, who carried a sign bearing a rainbow-collared shamrock. "We should be able to go to the same places and participate in the same community events as anyone else." Spectators appeared mostly positive as marchers made their way along the route, many of them carrying large Veterans for Peace flags with a picture of a dove with an olive branch in its beak, but a Globe reporter following the parade participants relays hearing gay slurs and hostile remarks, including twenty-something one man who approached the procession and launched into a profanity-laced tirade that included the phrase, "[Forget] cuts to military spending!" He was told by a police officer to move along and promptly left. A neighbourhood resident, 50 year old Joe Jones, said the marchers had no place in the day's festivities. "It's all [lies]," he said. "Their putting their ideas on us."

Radio Netherlands reports that the Dutch defence ministry will this year for the first time participate in Amsterdam's Gay Pride Parade, event organizers have announced. Gay soldiers will join the parade dressed in uniform on a separate boat, an initiative taken by the Gay Army Organization. The parade will take place on August 6th. Both the parade organizers and the Gay Army Organization say their participation is a huge step forward in the social acceptance of gay and lesbian people in the armed forces. Two years ago, gay soldiers were not allowed to join the event. In 2010, they were given permission to do so but only on a personal basis.