NYPD banned from Pride parade, other events until 2025
NEW YORK (CNN) — Organizers of New York City Pride banned the New York Police Department from participating in the annual parade and other events, saying their appearance threatened members of the community.
CNN’s Polo Sandoval looks to the relationship between the NYPD and the LGBTQIA+ community.
It was on a rainy summer day - back in 1996 - that some of New York City's finest made pride history after the NYPD gave them permission to march in uniform.
Since then, uniformed members of GOAL - New York's Gay Officers Action League - have joined the crowds commemorating the Stonewall Inn Riots.
During that 1969 uprising, oppressed gay and lesbian patrons of a tiny New York bar revolted against the police and their practices - that the NYPD characterized as discriminatory in their mea culpa decades later.
With GOAL a regular participant at yearly New York pride marches, there was a sense that relations between the police and the LGBTQ community were on the mend.
Then, 2020 happened....
While the annual Pride Parade went virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Queer Liberation March- separate from NYC pride - took to New York's Washington Square Park.
That's where LGBTQ activists "ended up in a confrontation with police," according to New York state's attorney general.
In the same report, witnesses contend officers responded with "indiscriminate use of pepper spray" after a group of protesters tried interfering with the arrest of a small group that tried to graffiti a police car.
Pointing to that altercation, NYC Pride voted to ban uniformed law enforcement officers from participating in, and safeguarding, the city's pride events for the next five years.
NYC pride co-chair Andre Thomas on why...
“The symbol of that uniform for many people in our community - people who are black, people who are brown, who are trans - represents violence,” said Thomas. “Can represent fear."
Thomas explains his organization was prepared for blowback.
But he says, it's ok if it helps amplify black, brown and trans voices marginalized even after decades of progress.
“It's ideal for us to have the visibility of police officers there,” says Thomas. “But we also want you to be there in way that doesn't make other people feel oppressed. And I think that's the key and what people don't understand - that it's important to have the visibility but in a way that addresses the needs of the community that's really under attack."
Caught in the middle are Ana Arboleda and Jason Samuel.
They’re both gay NYPD officers now feeling shut-out by their own and standing their ground when it comes to wearing their uniforms.
"You're taking a part of me away,” said Arboleda. “So why can't I be both. Why do I have to be thrown back in the closet for one aspect of me.”
"The only thing that was achieved here was not banning the NYPD, it was banning goal, it was banning gay officers," said Samuel.
Both Officer Samuel and Sgt. Arboleda agree, relations between their department and their community remain far from ideal.
But they say, NYC pride's decision to ban them in uniform ignores decades of progress made thanks to goal - like revised police practices for trans people.
“Not allowing us to march is I think separate and distinct from a larger conversation about police and police interaction with queer youth across America," Samuel said.
Finding common ground won't be easy or quick -
For now, GOAL and the NYPD are showcasing their pride online while NYC pride says it's open to a compromise with one caveat...no uniforms or service weapons.
"I've worn a uniform myself,” said Samuel. “I was in the military for eight years. I know the effect that can have on people. And so, what we're trying to do is say, hey, let's bring that down. Let's bring you to a level where you are like everybody else walking our parade."
"I can't march in uniform but that doesn't take away that I’m equally proud of being both," Arboleda said.
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