In stark contrast to the small group who first marched 52 years ago for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, Sunday’s Pride Parade will be large, raucous and brimming with corporate sponsors. Those are all fine things.
Though gay rights are now well established in the American firmament, with a range of laws barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and a saner Supreme Court having established a right of marriage equality, the march still makes a necessary statement. In many parts of America, freedoms remain under threat. In Florida, a first-grade teacher now walks on legal eggshells if, seeking to help a student who’s being taunted for being gay or having lesbian parents, she dares educate her class about the importance of inclusion.
The rights of transgender people are more widely endangered. We respect attempts to safeguard women’s competitive sports, but the bigger question is whether the tiny minority of young people who struggle with their gender identity will be ostracized or given the support they deserve. Too many states choose cruelty in the name of cultural conservatism.
Sadly, as Pride organizers exuberantly fly the rainbow flag in the name of inclusion, they will encourage exclusion by barring police officers from marching in uniform. From even before then-NYPD Sgt. Charles Cochrane came out as gay in 1981, LGBTQ cops in the Gay Officers Action League — fighting their own battles against prejudice inside the ranks — have been a positive presence in the movement. It is a real tragedy that their brothers and sisters, blinded by animus, show them the backs of their hands.
This puts us a big parade step behind San Francisco, where Pride organizers reversed their plans to bar cops after Mayor London Breed threatened to sit out. Here, former cop Mayor Adams voiced his opposition to the policy but, having failed to get organizers to change course, will march anyway. If he wanted to stand on principle, he’d dry clean his old NYPD blues and wear them with lowercase pride.
