Scroll To Top
News

Tarlach MacNiallais Dies; Fought for LGBTQ Presence in St. Pat's Event

Tarlach MacNiallais
Tarlach MacNiallais and friend at parade via Facebook

MacNiallais advocated for LGBTQ inclusion in Manhattan's St. Patrick's Day parade and was an organizer of the St. Pat's for All Parade in Queens.

trudestress

Tarlach MacNiallais, whose activism for LGBTQ rights extended to New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade, has died of COVID-19 complications.

MacNiallais died April 1, and his death was reported Friday by The New York Times. He was 57.

He was an organizer of the St. Pat's for All Parade in Queens, which included LGBTQ contingents when they were banned from the higher-profile St. Patrick's Day parade on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. He had long advocated for LGBTQ inclusion in the Manhattan parade, which finally happened in 2016. He eventually became a member of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade formation committee, and he marched in the Fifth Avenue parade with the Lavender and Green Alliance in 2016, according to the Times.

He continued participating in the St. Pat's for All Parade as well, and he was among the marchers in this year's edition, held March 1. At the after-party at Saints & Sinners Pub in Queens, as the crowd sang and cheered, MacNiallais's voice was "soaring above the lot of us," his friend Brendan Fay told the Times.

MacNiallais was also an advocate for people with developmental delays, having worked for A.H.R.C. New York City, an organization serving this population, for 35 years.

He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and became an activist as a university student, both against British rule and for LGBTQ rights. When conservatives in Northern Ireland were fighting to maintain the country's antisodomy laws and launched a campaign called Save Ulster From Sodomy, MacNiallais helped organize a campaign titled Save Sodomy From Ulster. The repressive laws were eventually repealed.

MacNiallais, who moved to New York City in the 1980s, was diagnosed with COVID-19 in mid-March. Survivors include his husband, Juan Nepomuceno, along with nine siblings, and three stepchildren.

trudestress
30 Years of Out100Out / Advocate Magazine - Jonathan Groff & Wayne Brady

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.