Gay NYPD Officers Boycott Pride March Over Weapons Ban
The Gay Officers Action League says it will skip Manhattan's Pride March after organizers refused to exempt officers from carrying firearms.
LGBTQ New York Police Department officers affiliated with the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) will boycott Manhattan’s Pride March on Sunday, June 28, after organizers declined to exempt them from a policy barring marchers from carrying weapons, including police service firearms. GOAL argues that officers’ firearms are an integral part of their uniform.
The boycott marks the fifth consecutive year that GOAL has clashed with Heritage of Pride, the organization behind the march, over the participation of uniformed police officers.
Beginning in 1996, Heritage of Pride allowed police officers to march in the parade in full uniform. But in 2021, following nationwide protests over policing and racial justice sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the organization adopted a policy allowing individual officers to march in plainclothes while prohibiting them from wearing uniforms or marching under their own banner.
The ban was initially intended to last four years before Heritage of Pride reconsidered the policy. Former Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch have both criticized the prohibition on uniforms, as well as an amended policy adopted last year allowing LGBTQ officers to wear uniforms but not carry weapons.
Last year, Tisch argued that the prohibition on marching with weapons violated department policy requiring officers to carry their service weapons, which she said are necessary for “personal and public safety.”
She renewed her criticism of the policy this year, calling it “as hypocritical as it is a slap in the face to the New York City Police Department and to the spirit of pride.”
“I call on New Yorkers to join me in speaking out against Heritage of Pride’s offensive and exclusionary stance on this issue,” Tisch said in remarks delivered June 7 before marching in the Queens Pride Parade alongside GOAL members. Organizers of the Queens Pride Parade have taken a more permissive approach to uniformed, armed police officers than their counterparts in Manhattan.
Since 2021, several GOAL members have protested the Manhattan Pride March from the sidelines — some in uniform, others in plainclothes — arguing that the restrictions erase the visibility of LGBTQ police officers. They have also contended that the weapons ban undermines public safety by disarming trained law enforcement personnel.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who stopped to speak with protesting GOAL members during last year’s Pride March, has not publicly commented on whether the weapons prohibition should be lifted.
Heritage of Pride has maintained that LGBTQ police officers are welcome to participate in Pride events, provided they follow the same no-weapons policy as other marchers. The organization has noted that its membership voted “by a sizable margin” against granting GOAL an exemption.
“We acknowledge that GOAL marchers and other LGBTQIA+ officers have a desire to march openly and celebrate their dual identities, but our membership has spoken clearly multiple times now: They must find a way to do so without their weapons,” Heritage of Pride said in a statement.
In past years, even as LGBTQ officers were barred from marching in full uniform, other on-duty NYPD officers have patrolled the parade route and served as security personnel. Heritage of Pride has said it will continue working with the NYPD on safety protocols for the event, which draws millions of marchers and spectators.
Jason Samuel, GOAL’s vice president, said he was disappointed the group could not reach a resolution with Heritage of Pride.
“We spent years engaging in good faith dialogue because we believe inclusion meant inclusion,” Samuel said in a statement to Gothamist. “Previous generations of LGBTQ+ officers fought to be able to stand openly and visibly in uniform. We are now being told that visibility itself is the problem.”
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