The Police is Banned from Pride Like Pride is Banned from St.Patricks Parade “Nice Going Guys"
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| (Editorial) The cops in NYC have come a long way. For the longest time a tool for the church and anti gay politicians to use to intimidate with clubs, arrest and demeaning language. There were mayors who would say they were for gay marriage and civil rights for instance but gave the cops the nod to set up vice squads who mainly caught straight man coming out of porno shops, destroying families without giving a chance for the arrestee to come out when it was right for him or not come out. The cops busting into bars and clubbing and intimidating everyone particularly if payments had not been made direct to the cops or the Mafia who in turn would turn in the bar to the cops. Still this is 2021 and there are many cops who are gay. Male and Females.There have been campaigns to get these young gays to become rookies in the dept. During the administration of D’Blasio you have seen no campaign after he won his second term and have been nonchalant about the need of more gay cops and has turn his head away to not see how gays are treated in some precincts. It is no longer the norm for these incidents of homophobic acts against the LGBT community have not been the norm like in the past but the exception. Out of the blue the people in charge of Pride have, decided to keep the cops away. On this the 50th Anniversary, What an idiotic decision by people that most have some corncobs in their brains. This does not help the community but hurt us. I understand there have been times that the cops took over the parade not just by the numbers but by the arrests they make of the marchers. At times it seemed like the Commanders picked every homophobic cops in their precinct to get overtime and to beat and arrest watchers and marchers alike. They changed the parade by barricading everything and everyone. Not only could you not find a bathroom but to go into a store or open bar for water you had to wait a good hour. It was insane! But whose responsibility is that allocated to? The easy way is to keep them out. The right way was to talk to gay people and supporters in the council. Even The Governors office. Not sure talking to the man at the mansion would do any good but there are others. Police commissioner which is not the most understanding person but talking more than one official and present the facts. I know no one was happy about the cancellation last year but now is not the time to take drastic acts. Well since we are kicking depths out why not also keep the sanitation dept. out and we just have a dirty pride. This is the wrong time! These pride promoters know about being kept out of a parade. The cops have been out open ly as an enemy to a friend at times but they have represented the view of many not educated on the issue and plain homophobic NewYorkers. On St. Patricks day its been a fight every year to have gay representation on that parade. So now we see the people in charge of the Pride march doing it to the cops like the Church in NY does it to us. Shame! Pride is to to celebrate but also to educate the public. Adam Gonzalez, Publisher Adamfoxie |
NYC Pride is also working to reduce the New York Police Department's security and first responder presence at its events, the organization said. André Thomas, co-chair of Heritage of Pride, which produces NYC Pride, told ABC News it was a difficult decision that's "not going to please everyone."
"We know many LGBT cops," Thomas said. "But what the institution represents sometimes to a person of color or trans person is violence, and that doesn't make you feel safe. So that's the perspective we're coming from. And it's a difficult place to be. But we know that's what our community expects of us at this time."
Typically, about 200 NYPD members would participate in NYC Pride's march, held in the month of June, organizers said. That includes members of the Gay Officers Action League, or GOAL, a fraternal organization that was formed in 1982 to address the needs of LGBTQ officers.
GOAL called Heritage of Pride's decision "shameful," and found its statement, which did not mention GOAL by name, "demoralizing" and "dehumanizing."
“Heritage of Pride is well aware that the city would not allow a large scale event to occur without police presence. So their response to activist pressure is to take the low road by preventing their fellow community members from celebrating their identities and honoring the shared legacy of the Stonewall Riots," GOAL President Brian Downey said in a statement.
The NYPD also said it found the officers' exclusion "disheartening."
"Our annual work to ensure a safe, enjoyable Pride season has been increasingly embraced by its participants," an NYPD spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. "The idea of officers being excluded is disheartening and runs counter to our shared values of inclusion and tolerance. That said, we’ll still be there to ensure traffic safety and good order during this huge, complex event."
The move comes as LGBTQ activists have debated the role uniformed police officers should have at Pride marches, which formed as a response to a violent police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, in 1969. The calls have been renewed in recent years amid Black Lives Matter protests against police misconduct.
In 2017, Pride Toronto started barring police from participating in its march, amid demands from the local Black Lives Matter chapter. In 2019, Sacramento and St. Louis announced similar policies, but reversed them following pushback.
The debate was renewed after the death of George Floyd last year while in police custody in Minneapolis, which sparked widespread protests against police brutality.
LGBTQ advocacy group, New York City Anti-Violence Project, wrote a letter to Heritage of Pride last June demanding the organization divest from the NYPD.
"Pride marches don't want to celebrate and create a platform for the police as marchers," Audacia Ray, director of community organizing and public advocacy for the group, told ABC News. "That's a thing that I think we'll start to see more of."
She said she has heard mixed thoughts on keeping police out of the Pride march within the LGBTQ community.
"I talk to people who do not feel that police presence makes them feel safer, it makes them feel threatened. From what we've heard from older, white cisgender members of the community, they do feel a sense of reassurance and safety when police is there," Ray said. "So there's just a really intense rift there around gender and race and class. So that's something within the community we need to continue to talk about, about how we keep the most vulnerable members of our community safe and what does that look like."
NYC Pride did not hold its Pride march last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, though a pride rally was held by the activist group Reclaim Pride. LGBTQ advocates were critical of the NYPD response then, after officers were filmed assaulting a group of protesters and using pepper spray on them during an arrest.
Heritage of Pride said it plans to shift first response and security to trained private security and provide volunteers with de-escalation training. "NYPD will provide first response and security only when absolutely necessary as mandated by city officials," the organization said. It also plans to keep police officers at least one city block from the event perimeter areas "where possible."
Additionally, NYC Pride is not mentioning law enforcement in its social media.
In 2025, NYC Pride will review its policy on police participation, organizers said. "It is a matter of when the people in our community say hey, we feel safe," Thomas said.
These steps don't go far enough for some LGBTQ activists. Ray said the New York City Anti-Violence Project was pushing to have law enforcement completely removed from NYC Pride, and was concerned about the use of private security.
"Most private security companies hire off-duty officers or former police officers, so we think it's the same mentality," Ray said. "We're pushing more for them to start to shift (traffic enforcement) to working with the Department of Transportation instead of the NYPD."
Thomas said it will come down to training and setting clear standards with private security beforehand.
GOAL also provides training to new NYPD recruits to "(educate) future officers on the unique challenges facing our community," the organization said, as it pushed back against the ban.
"There are many partners for change throughout law enforcement," GOAL said in its statement. "For them to succeed, they need to be supported by leading LGBTQIA+ groups, not excommunicated by them."
Much of this year's NYC Pride festivities during Pride Month in June will once again be virtual due to the pandemic. The organization said it wanted to make the announcement now to start the process.
"A lot of this work we know has been geared towards a return to higher crowd sizes," Thomas said. "That's really what we can hopefully prepare for."
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