Delray Beach Cancels St. Patrick's Day Parade Under New Anti-DEI Law

Delray Beach, Florida, has canceled its St. Patrick's Day parade, an annual event since 1970, citing a new state law that bars taxpayer dollars from funding diversity initiatives. The city will also withdraw its sponsorship of LGBTQ Pride celebrations in June.

The law, SB1134, takes effect on Jan. 1 and was backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. It forms part of Florida's crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which the governor has called discriminatory and said have "no place" in public institutions.

Why did the city cancel?

Delray Beach's city lawyer told Mayor Tom Carney that any government-sponsored celebration of culture, ethnicity or heritage not tied to a national holiday — Independence Day, for example — could run afoul of the new statute. Carney said he then made what he called a difficult decision to cancel one of the city's biggest events of the year. SB1134 asserts that officials who violate its provisions could face civil or legal consequences.

The parade, held for more than five decades, previously wound through downtown Delray Beach with spectators lined several people deep along the route. Local businesses sponsored floats and giveaways, school bands marched, and participants included members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the largest and oldest Irish Catholic organization in the country.

"I've said it's engrained in the DNA of Delray and I do mean that. It's one of our signature events," Carney, a Republican, told NPR.

What does the DeSantis administration say?

The governor accused the city of weaponizing the law. In a post on X following the cancellation announcement, DeSantis said Delray Beach was engaging in "malicious compliance."

"What they are doing is not mandated by Florida law," the governor wrote. "It's just an attempt to make a political point — a point that legacy media will no doubt try to amplify. We've seen these stunts throughout the years. Rinse and repeat."

Carney said the city is merely trying to stay out of legal trouble. "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. "I'm going to leave it at that."

Can the parade survive?

A path forward exists, and it runs through private money. Carney said that if a private sponsor volunteered to take over the parade or the Pride celebrations, the city would hand over the reins and support their continuation.

"These types of events we should be celebrating because in this country, people can have these events. In other countries, you can't do this. We have great freedoms here," 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. If we can do it, we should do it."

The mayor, who is of Irish descent, noted the parade ran on private sponsorship until roughly eight years ago, making a return to that model a callback to its origins. His own family helped keep the parade going during the 1980s and 1990s, he said.

Delray Beach officials report they have been inundated with emails, calls and social media messages from constituents angry about the cancellation of a decades-long tradition.

"It was kind of a call to action to me," Carney said. "The community really wants to have it, so we should go ahead and have it, we just need to get it privately funded."

The episode makes Delray Beach's parade one of the first visible casualties of SB1134 — and a test case for how other Florida municipalities interpret the law once it takes effect on Jan. 1.