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New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
NYC Pride parade fills streets with glitter and glee — as NYPD wannabe marchers protest uniform ban
More than a million people filled Manhattan on Sunday for the largest annual Pride parade in North America — while LGBTQ cops turned out in droves to protest from the sidelines. As revelers dressed in glitter, drag and other festive attire packed the streets surrounding the downtown parade route, the officers were furious that they are still barred from marching in their NYPD uniforms. 'It takes a tremendous amount on courage to be out. It takes an even more tremendous amount of courage to be out in uniform,' said NYPD Detective Brian Downey, president of the Gay Officers Action League. Advertisement 5 More than a million people pack the streets of downtown Manhattan for this year's Pride parade. Michael Nigro But the party remained uninterrupted for the throngs of sanctioned participants as the parade snaked through Madison Square Park, down Fifth Avenue, through Greenwich Village and up Seventh Avenue — with rainbow flags and smiles flying from start to finish. 'I'm out here making sure our voices are loud and proud and heard. It's more important now than ever,' said 30-year-old Audacity Mansfield, who wore a 'Mr. Gay New Jersey' sash won at a pageant earlier this month. Advertisement 5 NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch (third from left) joins queer officers protesting after they were barred from marching in uniform. DANIEL WILLIAM MCKNIGHT 'If we don't have pride, then we don't really have anything,' Mansfield said. 'If we can't be proud of who we are or if we can't be proud of our community, what are we out here for?' This year's parade fell on the 10th anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage in the US and also commemorated the 1969 Stonewall riots — which helped spark the country's gay-rights movement — with the theme 'Rise Up: Pride in Protest.' But one part of the queer community that was left out of the festivities for the fifth year in a row were uniformed LGBTQ NYPD officers who were told by organizers they couldn't march in their blues. Advertisement 'We will not be erased,' read signs carried by cops watching from the sidelines, along with others reading, 'Let gay cops back into march,' and, 'Our uniform is our protest.' 5 Despite the NYPD controversy, the parade is filled with joy and smiles as people turn out in droves to celebrate. Stephen Yang NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch turned out to support the officers, calling the decision to bar them 'unbelievable.' 'It is an absolute disgrace,' Tisch said, saying it was ironic that a parade about inclusivity is keeping people out. 'These officers standing behind me who have been pillars of reform in the community for decades have been excluded and told they are not welcome to walk in the uniforms they wear.' Advertisement The ban was put in place in 2021 over ongoing anti-cop sentiment from the George Floyd protests the summer before. 5 This year's Pride parade was filled with the usual fare of glamour, glitter and colorful costumes. Michael Nigro Parade organizer Heritage Pride claims it doesn't want parade-marching officers carrying weapons, which they have to have on them as part of their uniform requirements. Scores of on-duty armed cops protect the parade-goers. Tisch called organizers' excuse 'nonsense' and characterized it as a 'publicity stunt.' 'Heritage of Pride knows full well that when officers wear their uniforms, those uniforms can be magnets,' she said. 'It is about personal safety for our officers and public safety that officers don their uniforms and carry their service weapons with them.' Downey said it was 'painful' to have to protest the parade — and that queer officers are among the most courageous members of the community. 'It's been painful for four years now,' he said. 'Telling folks that they can show up not as they are is not in the spirit of pride.' Advertisement 5 The parade marched down Fifth Avenue, cut across Greenwich village and then moved up Seventh Avenue. Getty Images 'Everyone standing behind me protests every day by going into the system that has historically was not for them. They go in and force change upon that system. They force that system to deal with that,' Downey added. Downey — echoing others — also said it was outrageous that the parade would ask the NYPD to keep the parade safe but wouldn't let officers march in uniform. Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani stopped by the protest and greeted Tisch and some protesting cops — but was snubbed by at least two officers. Advertisement Mayor Eric Adams — who previously voiced support for GOAL's push to let officers march in uniform — joined the parade but was booed at times and given the middle finger as he walked. 'Eric Adams doesn't care about gay people!' a woman yelled, while others called him a 'Trump lover' and screamed, 'Mamdani for mayor.' Despite the controversy, Sunday's parade was the festive and positive celebration many wait all year and travel from across the world to attend. 'I'm just proud of the energy,' said paradegoer Paul Mcgrorety. 'I love seeing smiles and just the pridefulness of everyone here. It's awesome to be here.'
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Police Officers Protest Pride After Being Barred From Marching With Guns
Clusters of New York police officers stood sentry along the Pride March route on Fifth Avenue on Sunday, in full uniform and armed, watching the parade go by as they do every year. Nearby, dozens of their colleagues gathered behind metal barricades in protest. Some wore their uniforms; others wore polo shirts and hoisted signs emblazoned with rainbows and slogans like 'Let gay cops back into Pride March' and 'Our uniform is our protest.' Behind them, a truck bore a large digital screen with the message 'We will not be erased.' The demonstration was organized by the Gay Officers Action League, an L.B.G.T.Q. police group that has been barred from marching in New York City Pride since 2021. Starting in 1996, groups of uniformed police and corrections officers in New York marched in the parade every year. But the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement made the involvement of the police in festivities in New York and elsewhere in North America increasingly contentious. In 2021, Heritage of Pride, which organizes Pride events in New York, barred the police from marching as a group, part of wave of similar measures that followed the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in May 2020. Since then, officers in many cities have been allowed back into local Pride marches. But in New York, Heritage of Pride did not take action to lift the ban, which was slated to expire in 2025. Two weeks before the parade, Brian Downey, a detective and the president of the Gay Officers Action League, known as GOAL, said Heritage leaders told him that officers could march again on one condition: that they leave their guns at home. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
NYPD Commissioner Tisch doubles down against Pride March ban on gay cops in uniform: ‘PR stunt'
NEW YORK — Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Saturday doubled down in her criticism of the Pride March organizer's decision to ban the NYPD's Gay Officers Action League from participating in the annual event in New York City. In a strongly worded letter to the event's organizer, Heritage of Pride, calling the group hypocrites, Tisch demanded that it change its stance on the officers' exclusion from the celebratory procession. The top cop slammed the new reason given for not letting the gay officers march — namely, that it would violate the event's no-weapons policy — calling it a 'PR stunt' and 'Not a solution.' 'It is also the height of hypocrisy to request the security and protection of thousands of armed, uniformed police officers for The March on Sunday and then ban from that event the very officers that proudly represent your community,' Tisch said in the letter. 'In a year when LGBTQ+ rights are under siege in ways we had thought were behind us, this is the time to stand together, not to splinter,' Tisch added. 'In that light, I urge you to reconsider your decision here. Regardless of the ultimate outcome.' Heritage of Pride, about two weeks ago, informed the New York Police Department, including the Gay Officers Action League, or GOAL, that it was continuing its ban for the fourth straight year against allowing police officers to march. 'Though the NYPD remains a partner in monitoring and addressing security threats, the NYPD response is to be called upon only when absolutely necessary,' an internal memo from Heritage of Pride states. 'Additionally, the guidelines for our March were updated to clarify that no participating contingent could march with weapons.' Tisch on Friday said she was shocked by the decision, given earlier dialogue she and Detective Brian Downey, GOAL's president, had had with Heritage of Pride officials. HOP spokesman Chris Piedmont stressed that the organization has a no-weapons policy, to which GOAL would not agree. However, NYPD officers are required to have their service weapons on them while they are in uniform 'as a matter of public and personal safety,' according to Tisch's letter. 'To be clear,' Piedmont told The New York Daily News on Friday, 'GOAL is welcome to march without weapons like every other contingent and we welcome them to join us as we march to protect trans youth, advocate for full equality and stand in proud defiance of the attacks our community is facing.' The ban was first announced in 2021, when protests over the killing of Minnesota man George Floyd by police officers generated a wave of anti-cop sentiment across the country, including in New York City. But it's also rooted in the trauma many in the LGBTQ community have experienced in dealing with law enforcement for years — going back to the 1969 Stonewall riot, which was sparked by a police raid at the now-famous Greenwich Village gay bar. The ensuing Stonewall protests are considered the birth of the modern gay rights movement. Brian Downey, GOAL's president, announced that in response to the ongoing ban, the organization will be protesting on Sunday, starting at 11 a.m., at W. 20th St. and Fifth Ave., five blocks away from the starting point of the Pride March. 'This isn't a time for apathy or complacency,' Downey said. 'It's a time for visibility! It's a time for protest!'
