The distinction between the virtuous Black and
LGBT Pride movements and White and Straight Pride hate movements is no longer
very clear among the general public. In
this vein, it is asserted that Pride, dropping the explicit focus on the LGBT
community, is simply about inclusion and therefore it is argued that Uniformed
Police should be included as any other constituency.
This argument is designed to erase the
historical origin of Pride as a protest movement for the LGBT community's
fundamental and civil rights. The LGBT
community has been historically, and is currently, violently suppressed by the
Police around the world. Logically,
following from the historic origin of LGBT Pride, efforts for further inclusion
would naturally highlight the Black and Brown liberation movements, and the
Palestinian freedom struggle among other just causes. If this were the dominant trajectory of the LGBT Pride movement,
and it would once again become an anti-establishment protest movement for the
rights of the oppressed - not the festival atmosphere viewed as a major
economic stimulus it has become in the West - I contend we would soon see the
police reinvigorate their role, with regards to LGBT Pride, as the agents of
oppression. It should be no surprise
that there is no similar demand for uniformed police to participate in May Day
demonstrations. In the United States,
the catalyst for the modern LGBT Pride movement was the June 28, 1969 Stonewall
Inn Riots. Learning more about this
history is a good place to start to understand why uniformed police have no
place in LGBT Pride.
It is only the historically ignorant, or those
with sinister motivations, that would suggest the police should be treated as
honoured participants in a LGBT Pride parade.
