“Why should I have to take off (the uniform) as if I’m ashamed?”
“Why should I have to hide a part of me,” asked Ana Arboleda, a sergeant with the NYPD who has marched in the parade several times and is the vice-president of the Gay Officers Action League. of course you should be able to celebrate and express your pride, but you don’t need to do it in a uniform that has perpetuated violence against many of the people who are trying to celebrate their pride that day.”įor others, presence of LGBTQ police marchers is an expression of hard-fought diversity and inclusion that should be celebrated, a hallmark of how integral LGBTQ people are in the fabric of American life. “Folks still have challenging and traumatic and many times horrific relationships with law enforcement,” said John Blasco, a parade regular. Tensions between law enforcement and some parts of the LGBTQ community still exist, a half century later. As the city's annual Pride weekend approaches, a recent decision by organizers of New York City's event to ban LGBTQ police officers from marching in uniform in future parades has put a spotlight on issues of identity and belonging, power and marginalization.įor some, cops shouldn't have a uniformed presence at a march commemorating the 1969 Stonewall uprising, sparked by a police raid on a gay bar.
