Seven years ago, Christine Quinn was arrested for protesting the annual St.Patrick’s Day Parade because it does not allow gay and lesbian groups to march.

The newly elected City Council speaker, who is openly gay and Irish, has a difficult decision this year as leader of a body that historically has participated in the Fifth Avenue event. Yesterday, the chairman of the parade, John Dunleavy,said Ms.Quinn is “more than welcome to march” and that he believes she would do so as the head of the council’s delegation.

“I have the utmost faith that she will respect the views of the parade and we will respect her,and that she’ll march up and lead the City Council as speakers have done in past years,” Mr. Dunleavy said during a telephone interview.

Ms. Quinn in the past called for elected officials to sit out the parade until it allows gay and lesbian groups to march. After gaining national recognition as the first female and the first openly gay council member to be elected speaker, some are wondering whether she’ll try to broker a compromise with parade organizers.

A spokeswoman for Ms. Quinn, Maria Alvarado, said yesterday that the speaker “certainly hopes to be able to march, but there are no formal negotia tions at this time.” Ms. Alvarado said they would see what happens between now and March 17.

Mr. Dunleavy said he has not talked to the speaker, but that individuals have been free to march in the parade for some time – as long as they aren’t part of an organized gay group marching with a banner. Mr. Dunleavy also tried to soften the parade’s past position by pointing out that it doesn’t ban gays and lesbians, but simply does not allow any advocacy group. In 2004, one parade sponsor, Boru Irish vodka, was kicked out of the parade after it had sponsored a gay-friendly parade in Queens a week earlier.

A gay activist, Brendan Fay, who was arrested with Ms. Quinn in 1999 while protesting the parade, predicted there would be “many conversations” and “some deep soul searching” in the coming days as the speaker contemplates what to do. He also said that it would be “quite a step forward” for the parade organizers to have Ms. Quinn participate given that she is the most prominent gay leader in the city.

Mr. Fay, a founder of the Queens parade, said participation by Ms. Quinn could have profound implications and that she “could be the leader who moves the ongoing conflict toward a resolution.”

“I remember the arrests, the animosity, and the deeply held prejudices that continue to have ramifications in the Irish community and in the gay community, and it always resurfaces at this time of year,” he said.

Still, Mr. Fay expressed mixed feelings, saying that exclusion of gay groups is “tragic” and that nobody should have to hide their identity when they march.

His comments highlight the delicate nature of the parade for all elected officials. Mayor Bloomberg has come under fire from gay groups in the past for participating. Ms. Quinn’s predecessor, Gifford Miller, skipped the parade.

Ms. Quinn, however, is in a unique position, given that she has spent much of her career fighting for gay and lesbian equality.That could give her more leeway in setting a new precedent.

A professor of public affairs at Baruch College, David Birdsell, said Ms. Quinn’s position as speaker could ramp up the pressure on parade organizers to loosen their restrictions. He said it would be difficult for her to march in the very parade she’s protested unless the organizers make changes.

“It’s tricky,” he said.”If it’s framed as Chris marches, but she does so under our relatively restrictive rules, than it looks like she capitulated to the niceties of position. On the other hand if it is the parade that muzzles itself … that is something that looks much more like a compromise.”