Should police be allowed to march in Philly Pride? | Pro/Con

The organizers of this weekend’s Philly Pride event have a Points of Unity page, and the first item states that no police should be present: “We will not communicate, collaborate, or coordinate with the police.”

Philadelphia is not the first city to disinvite police to the event. New York City has banned police until 2025.

Many members of the LGBTQ community have had negative interactions with police, so a police presence would often not be welcome. But by banning police, is the LGBTQ community giving up on repairing that relationship?

We asked two local people to weigh in: Should Philly Pride include police?

By Mike Hinson

As a Black man, my experiences with the police have been tenuous — and, at least one time, life-threatening.

I am also a gay man. So I understand why the organizers of this year’s Philly Pride have decided not to include the local police in any way. But I still think it’s shortsighted.

As a taxpayer — and, more importantly, as a Black man who has personally and historically been harmed by police — I am simply not willing to forgo my right to police protection. I deserve to be protected and served just as much as people living in Rittenhouse Square, Society Hill, and Chestnut Hill.

We can say we want to abolish relationships with the police, but what does that rhetoric mean when two women from our community — ages 62 and 57 — are shot by stray bullets leaving a funeral at a church? Do we not call the police to investigate? When my nephew Kevin was murdered in Rochester, N.Y., in 2017, our family wanted nothing more than for his killer to be brought to justice. And she was, thanks to the work of the Rochester Police Department.

The call for no police at Pride events also slights the many efforts of our ancestors, elders, and community members who fought to be a part of the police force, shattering the “old boys’ club” that, for generations, prevented anyone but straight, white men from taking part.

» READ MORE: Unlike NYC, Philly should allow police at Pride events to build trust with the LGBTQ+ community | Opinion

I remember the excitement of learning that Thomas Gilbert Kalt Jr. had completed his training as the first openly gay member of the Philadelphia police force, and then having the wind knocked out of me after he took his life after having served on the force for less than three weeks.

Today, there are multiple gay members of the force.

I remember being in awe of Maria Gonzalez, the department’s first openly transgender officer, who announced her transition in 2004. She helped pave the way for officers like Benson Churgai, who became the first trans person to graduate from the Philadelphia Police Academy in 2020.

“We can and must collectively improve relationships with those we pay to protect and serve our communities.”

I’ve also witnessed what it is like to have officers who “get it.” Those who want policing to be fair and equitable. Officers like my friend, Moses Walker Jr., who was murdered off-duty in 2012. Moses treated every person with respect and human dignity; he was a good cop and a very good person. My friend (and member of the Philly police force) Jacqueline Bailey-Davis has worked side by side with me and other members of the “215 Village,” as she calls it, to improve the quality of life in our communities and our relationship with police. She does this not because of her job, but because of her humanity.

It feels awkward to defend the police after the second anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. But I believe the relationship between Philadelphia police and our marginalized communities is worth saving.

We can and must collectively improve relationships with those we pay to protect and serve our communities. We can’t afford to run to our corner of the issue and give up, nor forget about the harsh realities we are facing, including gun violence and especially the murders of Black and Latino trans people.

Let’s honor the memories and sacrifices of Thomas Gilbert Kalt Jr. and Maria Gonzales by trying to improve relationships with law enforcement while holding them accountable for ensuring our lives matter, too.

Mike Hinson is the president and chief operating officer of SELF Inc., the largest provider of emergency housing services for single homeless adults in Philadelphia, and the inaugural mayor’s liaison for LGBT communities in former Mayor John F. Street’s administration.

By Mar Escalante

Welcoming police at Pride parades is dangerous to members of the LGBTQ community. This stance is shared by the PHL Pride Collective in its Points of Unity, and it is backed up by legacy, modern history, and statistics.

Just consider the history of Pride: Part of the reason we hold Pride celebrations in cities all around the country is to celebrate the social and legal gains since the Stonewall riots in 1969, when police officers raided a gay club (the Stonewall Inn) and began arresting patrons en masse. Fed up with being targeted, the community — led by trans women of color activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, among others — fought back, and gave birth to the modern LGBTQ movement.

» READ MORE: Transgender woman sent to men’s prison in Philadelphia: Experience was ‘dehumanizing’

It was resistance against violence by police that led to Pride — so it is understandable why many members of our community would be uncomfortable including the police in this event.

Philadelphia isn’t the first city to ban police from Pride events; New York has done the same. And this isn’t the first time the issue has arisen in Philadelphia, either.

In 2016, when Philly Pride Presents decided to host GOAL (the Gay Officer Action League) as one of the grand marshals for that year’s Pride parade, a petition circulated in protest. Petitioners wrote of the importance of Black and brown trans women in LGBTQ history and that “the police, as an institution, continue to carry out racist and transphobic violence.” Their advocacy resulted in GOAL’s decision to withdraw.

Members of the LGBTQ community continue to experience negative interactions with police. In 2017, the Equity Coalition organized a march to “Take Back Pride” in support of historically marginalized communities. While the Take Back Pride march was vocal, it was nonviolent. However, demonstrators reported that they were “repeatedly physically assaulted by police.”

“It was resistance against violence by police that led to Pride.”

In 2018, ReeAnna Segin, a trans woman, protested police brutality by attempting to burn a “Blue Lives Matter” flag, to protest police at Pride. Despite being engaged in an expression of free speech that’s protected by the First Amendment (even if she was burning an American flag, as police initially claimed), she was arrested and transferred to a men’s prison, charged, and publicly misnamed and misgendered. While the District Attorney’s Office withdrew the felony charges, these were endangering, humiliating, and unnecessary experiences.

For many members of the LGBTQ community, police remain an unwelcome presence. According to a 2013 study by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, trans people are 3.7 times more likely to experience violence from the police, relative to non-trans people; among trans people of color, the rate is six-fold higher. According to a 2011 survey, 22% of trans people have been harassed by police; among trans people of color, the rate is 38%. Another 15% of Black trans people have been physically assaulted by police, and 2% of all trans people surveyed have been sexually assaulted by the police. In a 2015 U.S. survey of transgender people, 57% of respondents felt uncomfortable going to the police for help and reported high rates of harassment and mistreatment by police.

Regardless of their intentions to maintain order, police presence is a threat to marginalized members of the LGBTQ community. To them, and to communities of color, police are not a force for protection, but a source of danger. Pride parades must remain a safe space for all members of the LGBTQ community, so police should not be welcomed.

Mar Escalante is the project liaison for Philly Socialists, an organization committed to organizing a diverse working-class base to fight for a just future in Philadelphia and the world.