*The NYPD has been banned from the New York City Pride parade until at least 2025.
The organization says prohibiting law enforcement will make participants feel safer.
“Give the mic back. Hand it over to the people that started this movement, and that’s trans people of color who started this. And we have to give them that space back and that space has to be safe for them,” said David Correa, the interim executive director of NYC Pride, as reported by Complex.
NYC Pride issued a statement saying they want officers to “acknowledge their harm and to correct course moving forward,” according to KTLA. “The sense of safety that law enforcement is meant to provide can instead be threatening, and at times dangerous, to those in our community who are most often targeted with excessive force and/or without reason.”
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@NYCPride announces the official theme for 2021, #TheFightContinues. Visual campaign captured by photographer #CaitOppermann featuring #GiaLove, #JoséThomas, and #ReidJefferson. Join us this year for #NYCPride2021. Visit https://t.co/pDg2J9uy1J! pic.twitter.com/dw5qsuZydz
— New York City Pride (@NYCPride) February 25, 2021
The Pride festival, which takes place in June, will use community-based security and first responders. Per Complex, police will supply first response and security “only when absolutely necessary as mandated by city officials,” the group said.
“Our annual work to ensure a safe, enjoyable Pride season has been increasingly embraced by its participants,” NYPD spokesperson Det. Detective Denise Moroney said in a statement. “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.”
“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,” Brian Downey, president of the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL), told The New York Times.
Per MSN, NYC Pride was born out of the 1969 Stonewall uprising when cops violently clashed with the LGBTQ+ community. Last year’s Queer Liberation March also highlighted the tense relationship between law enforcement and the LGBTQ+ community.
Pride’s theme this year is “The Fight Continues.”
The Gay Officers Action League called Pride’s police ban “shameful.”
“It’s shameful from them to segregate us, because we have worked so hard to all of us being included. For us to be excluded, it really took us back,” GOAL VP Ana Arboleda said.
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