San Francisco mayor boycotts Pride Parade over ban on uniformed officers marching

[Behind the Aegis]

San Francisco Mayor London Breed will be boycotting the city’s upcoming Pride Parade, one of the nation’s largest and most iconic, because of organisers’ stance that off-duty police officers can’t march in full uniform during the 26 June event.

It’s the latest rift over what role, if any, police should have in Pride events, given the epidemic of police violence against LGBT+ people, and the gay liberation movement’s long-standing history of resisting police abuse.

"I’ve made this very hard decision in order to support those members of the LGBTQ community who serve in uniform, in our Police Department and Sheriff’s Department, who have been told they cannot march in uniform and in support of the members of the Fire Department who are refusing to march out of solidarity with their public safety partners," she said in a statement on Monday.

"One of the central planks of the movement for better policing is a demand that the people who serve in uniform better represent the communities they are policing," she continued. "We can’t say, ‘We want more Black officers,’ or ‘We want more LGBTQ officers,’ and then treat those officers with disrespect when they actually step up and serve."

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