Charlotte Pride bans police groups from participating in annual parade and festival
In support of Black Lives Matter movements, Charlotte Pride said it is banning law enforcement agencies from participating in its annual parade and festival in uptown Charlotte.
Police groups will no longer be allowed to march in the parade and serve as festival vendors, Charlotte Pride’s board of directors announced late Wednesday.
The parade is the largest annual parade in Charlotte. The event celebrates the LGBTQ community and drew about 200,000 participants last year.
Law enforcement agencies will be permitted to return only when the community is confident that police “are committed to the meaning of Black Lives Matter and treat Black and Brown people with dignity and respect,” Charlotte Pride’s board said in a statement.
Charlotte Pride has received no ”negative feedback from our partners or stakeholders” since adopting the statement, spokesman Matt Comer told The Charlotte Observer Thursday.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Less visible presence
Charlotte Pride’s board also unanimously agreed Wednesday to ask the city of Charlotte to “make less visible” the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers who must provide public safety at the events.
And Charlotte Pride’s board voted to encourage local, state and federal elected officials to ban law enforcement use of tear gas and other chemical agents.
The organization, meanwhile, will ask the city of Charlotte to redirect police funding into “community-based and community-accountable public safety, public health, affordable housing” and other efforts to help minorities and low-income residents.
“The overwhelming evidence from more than 400 years of history shows that our government has not been held accountable for the crimes and violence committed against black and brown people,” leaders of the gay-rights advocacy group said.
“Charlotte Pride also believes that the fight for black and brown lives is inextricably bound together with our fight for LGBTQ liberation,” according to the board of directors statement.
Charlotte Pride is “the leader in LGBTQ visibility in Charlotte and the Carolinas,” according to its website, and among the largest such organization in the Southeast.
This summer’s parade and festival were canceled due to coronavirus concerns.
Wednesday’s announced actions are part of a resolution Charlotte Pride’s board adopts each June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots & Uprising of June 1969. This year’s resolution stands in “full solidarity with Black Lives Matter,” leaders said on Twitter.
Mixed reactions
Charlotte Pride’s ban on police groups drew mixed reaction on social media.
“We should not support or participate or initiate the exclusion of any group,” a person posted on Charlotte’s Pride’s Facebook page. “There are members of the police who are also members of our community.”
Others praised Charlotte Pride’s measures.
“I’m proud of you, Pride!” one person posted. “Taking steps to make the marginalized groups in our community feel safer is what this is all about.”