NEW YORK (AP) – The bagpipe bands bellowed as usual up Fifth Avenue. The sidewalks overflowed as they always do with spirited spectators. The avenue was awash in Irish green: carnations, shamrocks, hats and even hair.

Meanwhile, a more recent St. Patrick’s Day Parade tradition – the ongoing clash between parade organizers and gay rights groups – burned a little hotter, thanks to anti-gay comments made last week by the event’s chair.

John Dunleavy, in remarks to The Irish Times, compared the parade’s ban on gays and lesbians marching under their own banner to an Israeli parade keeping out neo-Nazis, or blacks excluding the Ku Klux Klan. Referring to the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, he also said, “If we let the ILGO in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next?”

The remarks drew the wrath of scores of protesters who have long been angered that the parade has not been inclusive of the GLBT community.

“The comments bring to the forefront a longstanding bigotry,” said graduate student Emmaia Gelman, 31, who hoisted a sign that read, “Troops Out, Queers in” – a reference to military groups participating in the parade.

Thousands more people, however, were drawn in celebration to the parade, the nation’s oldest and largest with 150,000 marchers.

Scores of bagpipers, high school bands and Irish societies streamed past crowds waving Irish flags or wearing green hats, green carnations or green shamrocks painted on their faces.

Spectator Mary Sweeney, who moved to New York from Ireland 15 years ago with her two daughters, said, “I want them to grow up knowing their Irish heritage. Everyone wants to be Irish today.”

As crowds lined the streets to view the spectacle, Dunleavy sidestepped questions about his remarks about gays and lesbians.

“Today is St. Patrick’s Day. We celebrate our faith and heritage, everything else is secondary,” he said before the start of the parade.

Christine Quinn, the City Council’s first openly gay leader, blasted Dunleavy’s comments the day before the parade. Quinn, who is Irish, declined to participate in the parade after organizers barred an Irish gay and lesbian group from marching under its own banner for the 16th straight year.

Police on scooters positioned themselves between the marchers and gay rights protesters, who chanted, “We can march in Dublin, we can march in Cork, why can’t we march in New York?”