Delray Beach has cancelled its St Patrick’s Day parade after the city’s lawyer warned that Florida’s new anti-DEI law could prohibit taxpayer-funded cultural and heritage celebrations.
The south-east Florida city will also withdraw its sponsorship of LGBTQ Pride celebrations in June, officials said. The law, backed by Republican governor Ron DeSantis, comes into force on January 1.
City attorney told Mayor Tom Carney that government-sponsored events celebrating culture, ethnicity or heritage could breach the legislation unless they marked a national holiday such as Independence Day.
The decision ends, at least in its existing form, a parade that has been held annually since 1970 and has become one of Delray Beach’s best-known events. Floats, giveaways and school bands traditionally filled the downtown route, while members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians also took part.
“I’ve said it’s engrained in the DNA of Delray and I do mean that. It’s one of our signature events,” Mr Carney, a Republican, said.
The mayor, who is of Irish descent, said the parade had been privately run until about eight years ago. He hopes a private sponsor can now take responsibility for both the St Patrick’s Day event and the Pride celebrations, allowing them to continue.
“These types of events we should be celebrating because in this country, people can have these events,” Mr Carney said. “And if the community wants something and it’s not against public policy then I would support them to do it if they’re using private dollars.”
Delray Beach officials said they had received a large number of emails, calls and social media messages from residents angry that the decades-old celebration had been cancelled.
Mr Carney said the response had strengthened his determination to find a way to preserve the parade. “The community really wants to have it, so we should go ahead and have it, we just need to get it privately funded,” he said.
Mr DeSantis accused the city of using the new law to make a political point, describing the cancellation as “malicious compliance” in a message posted on X.
“What they are doing is not mandated by Florida law,” the governor wrote. “It’s just an attempt to make a political point.”
Mr Carney said the city was simply trying to avoid legal consequences under the measure, known as SB1134, which states that officials who breach its provisions could face civil or legal penalties.
“The legislation has unintended consequences. The governor may genuinely believe what he believes and I take him at his word; our city attorney came up with a different conclusion,” he said.
