Police will not be allowed to participate in the 2021 Denver PrideFest parade or as exhibitors, the Center on Colfax confirmed Tuesday.
This is in line with other cities around the country not allowing uniformed officers at their celebrations. New York City Pride banned police from all events until 2025.
“When I first heard that the center had decided not to allow us to participate in pride, I was very disheartened and very disappointed,” Lt. Chris Amsler of the Aurora Police Department said. “I had seen the news coverage that this had been occurring around the country. I really hoped that it wasn’t going to occur here in Denver.”
Amsler is a gay man who is pictured above marching with his husband Manuel at PrideFest 2017. He cites what he feels is a strong relationship between police and the Center and the reaction he and his fellow officers have gotten at LGBTQ events in the past as reasons for his dismay.
“I’m an openly proud gay man, and it is quite upsetting to feel like part of my community has kind of turned their back on me, just because of the profession I’ve chosen and the uniform that I wear,” Amsler said. “I’m hopeful that that maybe we can have continued conversations with leaders in the people that made these decisions, to try to bridge that gap and allow us to be back in the process.”
The Center, who hosts PrideFest, released the following statement regarding their decision:
“The Center was founded 45 years ago in response to police violence and harassment of the LGBTQ community. The entire history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement is rooted in a history of opposing police harassment and violence aimed at our community. There are numerous examples of police violence going back beyond the famous Stonewall Riots of 1969. For all these decades, The Center has worked to address these issues and improve the relationship between the LGBTQ community and the police and we have made great strides. However, we cannot in good conscience, as an organization that speaks up for justice, look the other way when it comes to police violence aimed at the Black community–a history of violence that goes back even further in American history. While we value our relationships with law enforcement and want to continue to build a safer community for all Coloradans, we feel we must take a stand. We have decided not to allow police participation in the 2021 virtual pride parade or to allow law enforcement agencies to participate as exhibitors. We hope to facilitate future conversations about how we can reform policing in our community that will involve all members of our community and support new and just ways of keeping our communities safe.”
Denver police has a history of supporting the LGBTQ community, launching the Proud in Denver campaign in 2017 to help find safe spaces for the community.
“The police have a horrible history with marginalized communities, and there is a history of police treating the LGBTQ community very poorly in the past,” Amsler said. “But excluding us from being involved with a celebration of pride in our community. How is that making things any better? How is that bridging that gap? How is taking away the opportunity for us to interact with people who have fears beneficial positively? How can we improve community relations if we are being excluded from the community that is fearful of us?”
Aurora has its own pride event run by OutFront Magazine; they have yet to announce if police would be welcomed.
PrideFest 2021 will take place on June 26-27. It includes an in-person and virtual 5K race, virtual parade and marketplace with “Pride Hubs” across the city.
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Denver PrideFest won’t allow police to participate this year - The Denver Post
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