Members of an LGBTQ+ police organization protested New York City’s annual Pride March on Sunday after they were barred from participating with their service weapons.

Heritage of Pride (HoP), the organization behind the city’s official Pride festivities, has banned uniformed cops from marching as a group since 2021. The decision came in the wake of the massive nationwide Black Lives Matter protests that followed the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In a statement at the time, HoP described the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and policing across the U.S. as “fundamentally flawed,” citing data indicating that LGBTQ+ people, and transgender people in particular, are disproportionately likely to experience violent encounters with police.

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According to the New York Times, the ban was slated to expire this year, but HoP reportedly took no action to lift it. On Friday, June 27, two days ahead of the march, the organization released a statement clarifying that police officers were welcome to participate, as long as they did so without weapons.

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“Everyone is welcome to March with NYC Pride, so long as they follow our rules and guidelines, in place to ensure the protection of our marchers, spectators, and community,” the statement read.

HoP explained that the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) had requested an exemption to its policy barring weapons from the march so that its members could participate in full dress uniform, which includes the concealed carry of firearms. HoP said its membership voted to deny the request.

“To be clear, GOAL is welcome to march without weapons like every other contingent and we welcome them to join us as we March to protect trans youth, advocate for full equality and stand in proud defiance of the attacks our community is facing,” the statement said.

In response, GOAL organized a demonstration during Sunday’s march, the first time the group has protested NYC Pride since the 2021 ban went into effect, according to the Times. Protesters, some in uniform, held signs that said “Let gay cops back into Pride March” and “Our uniform is our protest,” and were joined by New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and department chief John Chell.

Tisch blasted HoP’s decision in a June 28 letter to the organization, which she also posted on social media. In it, she quoted a communication from HoP in which the organization appeared to acknowledge that its weapons policy was, in effect, a ban on uniformed cops, as officers are required to carry service weapons as part of their uniforms. She described HoP’s Friday statement clarifying that officers can march in uniform, but without their firearms, as “a PR stunt.”

“It is also the height of hypocrisy to request the security and protection of thousands of armed, uniformed police officers for The March on Sunday and then ban from that event the very officers that proudly represent your community,” Tisch wrote.

According to the New York Daily News, an internal HoP memo states that “the NYPD remains a partner in monitoring and addressing security threats, the NYPD response is to be called upon only when absolutely necessary.”

Tisch described the exclusion of uniformed cops from the NYC Pride March as “a disgrace to the spirit of Pride.” But many members of the LGBTQ+ community disagree. New York’s Pride March, after all, commemorates the June 1969 Stonewall Riots, an uprising that came in response to a police raid on the bar and consistent harassment of LGBTQ+ people, and particularly trans people of color. The NYPD did not issue an official apology for the 1969 raid until 2019.

Tisch’s letter drew support from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and New York City Mayor Eric Adams (I), a former cop. Adams, state Attorney General Letitia James, and presumptive Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani all stopped to greet the GOAL protesters during Sunday’s march, the Times reported. Out New York City Councilmember Erik Bottcher (D) also shared a Sunday Instagram post expressing his disagreement with HoP’s ban.

NYPD detective Brian Downey, GOAL’s president, told the Times that while he understood the “spirit” of the weapons ban, it felt “targeted” at LGBTQ+ cops.

“It takes a tremendous amount of courage to be out. It takes an even more tremendous amount of courage to be out in uniform,” Downey told reporters at Sunday’s march, according to the Times. Acknowledging some LGBTQ+ people’s distrust of police, Downey said that GOAL has “worked to change the system from within, and we’re going to continue to do that work.”

Downey added that he was optimistic about continuing talks with HoP and has “no ill will towards New York City Pride.” GOAL, he said, hoped the march would be “a successful symbol of protest, as it always is.”

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