Pride in Protest has consistently campaigned for the exclusion of NSW Police from the parade citing a culture of homophobia within the force and an adversarial attitude towards unsolved gay hate deaths.
NO COPS AT PRIDE
AND NO COMPANIES AT PRIDE
AND NO LIONS AT PRIDE
Sounds reasonable to me. Abusers shouldn’t be allowed to march with their victims.
If the local LGBT community feels hostility towards the local police, they should be excluded. Simple as. When the local police cultivate positive ties with the LGBT community, the LGBT community can let them back in.
See, I’m always torn about police showing up to pride events officially, with one side being for the exact reasons given in the article. The other side is that human connections can eventually overcome biases and prejudice.
Meaning that even if the cops there are pricks (and I believe it when the local community says it’s so), maybe them being present, being familiar with the local community can end up as a net positive eventually. The problem is the eventually part. If they’ve been marching in the parade officially, and it hasn’t made a major shift yet, how long does the community have to tolerate their presence?
It’s the question of how much fucking effort does a disenfranchisement segment of the population have to keep putting in for basic respect? Why are they having to put up with the bullshit of having to be ambassadors and accept what amounts to invaders in what’s supposed to be a celebration?
I don’t have a good answer. So I default to the local community having the right to make the decision, and the rest of us (or even just me) support that decision.
