For years, the coming of the St. Patrick's Day Parade was most visibly marked by the appearance of a green line painted down Fifth Avenue.
Now the painting of the green line is a harbinger not just of spring but of the annual argument over whether gay and lesbian marchers join in, and the tallying that follows of which politicians decided to make points by being in the line of march and which decided to make points by staying away.
The parade, organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, steps off at 11 A.M. tomorrow at 44th Street. Last year a Federal judge ruled that New York City may not force organizers to allow Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization members to march, so for the third year they will step off in their own counter march.
I.L.G.O. members plan to gather outside the New York Public Library, at Fifth Avenue just south of 42d Street, at 9 A.M., two hours before the start of the main parade, and march up Fifth Avenue to protest their exclusion.
A Line on the Pavement
Reviewing police preparations for the parade yesterday, John F. Timoney, chief of department, said that, in part to save costs, 300 to 400 fewer officers will be deployed than the 3,800 assigned last year. He said the protesters would have to stay south of the main parade.
"If the I.L.G.O. group marches past that line on 42d Street," Chief Timoney said, "they will be arrested."
Last year 228 protesters were arrested after marching about a block north of the library on 42d Street. In 1992 gay and lesbians marchers held their own parade and a year earlier they were guests of a sympathetic division of theorder of Hibernians.
The issue of including gays and lesbians is not limited to New York. Organizers of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Boston canceled the city's 92-year-old tradition instead of complying with a court ruling to admit gay and lesbian marchers. In Ireland, meanwhile, gay and lesbian groups will march for the second year in official parades in Dublin and Cork.
Things have not changed much in New York City since the controversy erupted in 1991. The Hibernians argued that the parade, honoring a Roman Catholic saint, was protected by the First Amendment and thus they should not have to admit a group whose beliefs conflicted with theirs.
Indeed, the political disagreements preceding the parade have become as much a part of the event as the shamrocks and leprechauns.
Concern About Constituents
All of this debate has created complications for the city's ethnically sensitive politicians, who must decide whether more of their constituents will be offended if they march or if the do not march.
For City Councilman Thomas K. Duane, who represents Greenwich Village and is gay and H.I.V.-positive, that choice was not hard. "It is the principle of our being allowed to march on Fifth Avenue to celebrate St. Patrick's Day Parade that makes us risk really any danger, including getting arrested for our beliefs," he said.
Mr. Duane appeared at a news conference on the steps of City Hall with Borough President Ruth W. Messinger of Manhattan and I.L.G.O. members. He announced that 31 elected officials had pledged not to march in the main parade. The list included State Attorney General G. Oliver Koppell, New York City Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, Public Advocate Mark Green, Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Nydia M. Velazquez, and several City Council members, state senators and Assembly members.
Last year, Mayor David N. Dinkins boycotted the parade, angering some voters. Rudolph W. Giuliani, then a candidate, marched, and this year Mayor Giuliani will march again.
District Attorney Charles J. Hynes of Brooklyn, who announced yesterday that he would run for state attorney general, will march.
A spokesman said Mr. Hynes, a grandson of Irish immigrants, would march as a guest of the Fire Department. "He believes that the parade is a day to honor St. Patrick and to demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland," said the spokesman, Patrick Clark.
Mr. Duane, asked whether he and I.L.G.O. members would hold marching in the parade against Mr. Hynes, said, "We'll certainly remember that -- absolutely."
A prominent Irish-American New Yorker, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, will be in Washington for a Finance Committee hearing. In less contentious times he held breakfasts before the parade, but in 1992 he had a cold and did not participate.
