National treasure and internet sensation, Panti Bliss, joined New York mayor Bill de Blasio in marching in the city’s ‘St Patrick’s Day for All’ parade yesterday.

The parade, which marches rather appropriately through Queens, began in 2000 in opposition to the ban on gay pride marchers at the Manhattan celebration.

“This parade is what New York City is all about,” de Blasio said at the event yesterday in Sunnyside, Queens. “This is a parade that celebrates inclusion, diversity, unity.”

“When it started,” said the New York mayor (below centre, in green tie), “it wasn’t easy, it wasn’t something that people knew would catch on necessarily, but it was the right thing to do.”

“I’m absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to take part in the wonderfully inclusive St Pat’s For All parade in the diverse and welcoming borough of Queens, in the great city of New York,” Panti (Rory O’Neill) told journalists last month. “This colourful and vibrant celebration really is for all – and I’m definitely one of the ‘all’!”

This year marks the first time in two decades that the city’s mayor won’t march in the annual New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, reports the Wall Street Journal Online.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is still set to attend the annual St Patrick’s Day parade in New York on March 17.

 (photo from Wall Street Journal Online)