Gay Officers Action League says NYC Pride ban 'demoralizing' to law enforcement

The Gay Officers Action League is unhappy with NYC Pride's move to bar police officers from exhibiting at events.

"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 New York President Brian Downey said. "It is demoralizing that Heritage of Pride didn’t have the courage to refer to GOAL by name in its announcement, referring to us only as ‘Law Enforcement Exhibitors.’ The label is not only offensive but dehumanizing for our members."

GOAL's statement came out prior to the NYC Pride statement announcing that a ban on law enforcement exhibitors will go until 2025, when it will be reviewed.

"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. NYC Pride is unwilling to contribute in any way to creating an atmosphere of fear or harm for members of the community. The steps being taken by the organization challenge law enforcement to acknowledge their harm and to correct course moving forward, in hopes of making an impactful change," the statement says. "Effective immediately, NYC Pride will ban corrections and law enforcement exhibitors at NYC Pride events until 2025."

The organization will seek to minimize the NYPD's presence at its events.

"All aspects of first response and security that can be reallocated to trained private security, community leaders, and volunteers will be reviewed," the statement notes. "An increased budget for security and first response will allow NYC Pride to independently build a first response emergency plan using private security and provide safety volunteers with de-escalation training for first response when necessary. NYPD will provide first response and security only when absolutely necessary as mandated by city officials. In these instances, NYC Pride will review foreseeable NYPD involvement and, in partnership with surrounding venue precincts, take steps to keep police officers at least one city block away from event perimeter areas where possible."