New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio won't march in the nation's biggest and oldest St Patrick's Day parade unless its organisers change their limitations on displays of gay pride.
De Blasio skipped the march a year ago and currently intends to do so again, aides to the mayor said on Monday.
This year, one group is permitted to carry an LGBT-themed banner in the March 17 parade up Fifth Avenue but the mayor, a Democrat, doesn't feel that change is enough.
"We need something more for it to really feel like we've turned the corner," the mayor said on Sunday after he marched in an inclusive St Patrick's Day parade in Queens.
"A lot of people feel - I think, rightfully - that that is too small a change to merit a lot of us participating."
The mayor's staff said de Blasio would be willing to reconsider if the organisers changed their minds in the next two weeks.
At the moment, only a delegation from NBCUniversal will be permitted to march under a LGBT-themed banner.
NBC televises the parade.
De Blasio, a Democrat, became the first mayor in 20 years to skip the Manhattan march. Many other top elected officials also did not participate in 2014.
The parade's organisers have not suggested that they will alter the policy.
The event - one of the largest parades on the city calendar - has been held for more than 250 years and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, will serve as grand marshal.
The mayor's decision to likely skip the parade could be another source of tension with the city's Irish political leaders, a group that has seen its influence wane in recent years.
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