The 16-year battle between the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the gay and lesbian community apparently will stretch into at least a 17th year.

The speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, announced that she would not be waving an Irish flag on Fifth Avenue on Friday.

Saying “I am every day of the week an Irish lesbian” and that she cannot put part of her identity “on a shelf,” Ms. Quinn ended conversations with parade organizers, who have long banned gay groups from the parade.

The redheaded Irish speaker, who was arrested about half a dozen times for protesting the parade, said marching might have been a victory for her, but without changes in parade policy it would have been meaningless.

“The fact that I might walk on Fifth Avenue and some people happen to know that I’m Irish and gay because I have a job, that’s not the point,” she told reporters. “The point is for some mythical lesbian named Sheila O’Brien, you know I’m making that up, for her to walk up Fifth Avenue.”

Ms. Quinn for weeks has been in negotiations with parade organizers, who have a court ruling on their side saying they can exclude whatever groups they choose to. She said she was pressing them to allow a gay group to march with her in the council delegation (most probably with gay pride T-shirts or buttons), not separately.

The decision on what to do about the parade, which has long been a political minefield for elected leaders and candidates, has dogged Ms. Quinn this year.

The Gay City News and the New York Blade, two gay newspapers, have come out against a Quinn march. The Blade published an editorial last week under the headline: “When Is It Okay to Participate in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade? NEVER.”

Sources said the Queens Democratic party boss, Thomas Manton, a Quinn backer, wants parade organizers to compromise and pushed the speaker to talk to them. He could not be reached for comment.

Mayor Bloomberg is marching, but he has said he disagrees with the ban.