After years of exclusion, the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade finally lifted a ban on openly homosexual groups participating. One LGBT group, Out@NBCUniversal, was approved to march on Tuesday and this decision somehow managed to simultaneously upset both the religious community as well as LGBT groups that were not affected by the inclusion this year.

The decision to include Out@NBC was made in September of last year. The religious community was of course upset with the inclusion of any homosexual organizations in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Feeling their tradition of exclusion coming to an end, critics of the decision say it clashes against the holiday’s heavy association with Catholicism. Leader of the opposition, C.J Doyle, head of the Catholic Action League spoke out against it,

“The saint’s venerable name should not be cheaply misappropriated by nominally Catholic politicians and anti-Catholic organizations with a same sex agenda.”

However, Catholics weren’t the only people up in arms about this decision, the inclusion of just one organization in the parade seemed unfair to the remainder of the LGBT community. The boycott even includes Mayor Bill de Blasio, a self-entitled progressive, who is on the side of excluded LGBT organizations. This is not the first year Blasio has refused to be involved. He mentioned earlier in March that if more groups were not involved he would not being participating in the parade.

“We need something more for it to really feel like we’ve turned the corner. A lot of people feel — I think, rightfully — that that is too small a change to merit a lot of us participating.” Blasio said in defense of his refusal.

Ever since Pope Francis has openly embraced the LGBT community, softening the Vatican’s opposition to homosexuality, there have been reports that NBC was pressuring parade organizers to make some sort of gesture of acceptance. Protestors argue that the inclusion of NBC’s organization of LGBT employees was merely a publicity stunt rather than an actual progressive decision. Three non-corporate LGBT organizations attempted to apply for this year’s parade and were advised to attempt to get into the 2016 parade due to the fact a LGBT organization had already been chosen to participate. Emmaia Gelman, a member of all three groups turned away, spoke about the rejection,

“The one LGBT group that’s allowed to march in the 2015 parade has nothing to do with the Irish community; NBC is using its LGBT employee group to solve its problem, which is that it was embarrassed to continue sponsoring the event when the parade continues its exclusion of LGBT groups. This was a corporate decision.”

Another possible reason for the sudden “change of heart” displayed by the organizers of the parade may or may not have something to do with the beer companies that boycotted the parade for their lack of inclusion. Groups such as Heineken and Guinness pulled sponsorship of the 2014 parade. Last year after refusing participation Guinness released a statement that said “We believe in equality for all.” It just so happens that after the inclusion of Out@NBC, both Guinness and Heineken were back on board. Spokeswoman for Heineken, Tara Rush, said:

“We are glad to see the parade organizers have taken initial steps to be more inclusive and we expect this to be just the beginning of their efforts to create greater equality in the parade and a more diverse celebration in the years to come”

New York City Council member Rosie Mendez spoke about the decision to include Out@NBC and her refusal to participate in this year’s parade.

“It is clear that last year’s decision was just to placate the parade sponsors. Until my Irish queer brothers and sisters can march in this parade, I will not be marching at all.”

For decades groups such as Irish Queers have been demanding inclusion in the parade. If the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade wishes to avoid another year of protests, actual progress needs to be made. Instead of merely acting in order to save their image, organizers will have to actively end discrimination and open the gates for other LGBT groups to participate.