Let’s talk more when you get home.”įrancesca Barjon, 25, who is Black and bisexual, did not see herself in these stories. After they hung up, his father called back and said: “Have fun today.
“It was a whole other experience of love and light and excitement.” On a rooftop at the end of the day, after some drinks, he called home and told his father that he was gay. “It was like the whole world opened up to me,” he said. When a friend dragged him into Manhattan for Pride, an hour-plus subway ride, he expected brunch and a little parade.
Michael Donahue was 25 and living with his parents in the Rockaway section of Queens in 2005, not fully open about his sexual orientation. Stories about Pride - and there must be millions of them - often go something like this. How did a celebration that delights millions of people create so much rancor and mistrust? “We’re at a pivotal moment where we either come back, or people will look elsewhere.”įor Heritage of Pride, which just two years ago staged the biggest march in its history, with five million spectators attending, it was a stunning turn.
So their response to activist pressure is to take the low road by preventing their fellow community members from celebrating their identities and honoring the shared legacy of the Stonewall Riots,” said GOAL President Brian Downey.“This is the worst that I’ve ever seen it,” said Maria Colón, a longtime Heritage of Pride member and former board member. “Heritage of Pride is well aware that the city would not allow a large scale event to occur without police presence. GOAL, which represents LGBTQ officers and members of the NYPD, called the decision to "placate some of the activists in our community is shameful." The Gay Officers Action League was the first to react to the decision by Heritage of Pride, reacting late Friday before the official announcement came out. "The sense of safety that law enforcement is meant to provide can instead be threatening, and at times dangerous, to those in our community who are most often targeted with excessive force and/or without reason." "NYC Pride seeks to create safer spaces for the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities at a time when violence against marginalized groups, specifically BIPOC and trans communities, has continued to escalate," the statement from Heritage of Pride said Saturday.
Get the NBC 4 New York app for iOS or Android and pick your alerts. Stay informed about local news and weather. The group plans to fund the use of private security for emergency response and volunteers trained in de-escalation. Instead, the NYPD will "provide first response and security only when absolutely necessary as mandated by city officials" and officers will be kept one block away from the march and other events whenever possible, organizers said. The decision to bar such groups from participation comes as Heritage of Pride makes efforts to greatly reduce the overall number of police and participating law enforcement from its events - that includes the use of the NYPD that has previously partnered with the organization to provide security. Organizers say that decision will be reviewed by leadership to determine the policy's future. Heritage of Pride, which organizes the annual march and events, announced the immediate suspension of law-enforcement affiliated groups from participating in NYC Pride events through at least 2025. Groups representing LGBTQIA+ members of law enforcement will be banned from participating in NYC Pride events, including the annual march held each June, organizers announced Saturday.