Police officers a positive presence at Pride events

It’s discouraging to witness the co-ordinated assault by misguided activists on the police departments of this country and their involvement with the various Pride parades held each summer.

Just when you see police taking two positive steps forward in their attempts to better serve the considerable diversity of communities within our society, it’s one step back, thanks to Black Lives Matter, an organization one would think would wish for improved relationships with police.

Having been successful in getting police departments in Toronto and Halifax to withdraw from Pride parades in those cities, BLM is now trying to exclude the cops from the Vancouver event. Fortunately, this latest effort is being fiercely opposed by many longtime LGBTQ activists who recognize the Vancouver Police Department’s longtime support for their community and genuine efforts over the years to understand the community better and to meet its unique policing needs.

Feuding petitions for and against allowing police in the parade are running three-to-one in favour of letting the cops march, a sign that sanity will prevail.

BLM, of course, has important things to say about racism and violence perpetrated by police toward people of colour, particularly in the U.S.

While I’m neither black nor gay, I do know from past experience that all movements, to be successful, must have clear goals so that people understand what they’re working toward and whether it’s being achieved.

A key reason the anti-inequality Occupy Wall Street movement fell apart and ultimately failed, despite addressing an important issue, was that it couldn’t articulate clearly its goals or provide a reasonable alternative to the system it opposed. It could say what it was against, but not what it was for.

BLM risks failing in the same way, its opposition to progressive police departments attending Pride parades being just one example.

It’s easy to be against racist policing, but by what standard will BLM or the rest of us know that we have achieved zero prejudice within police departments or if what BLM calls “institutionalized racism” or “systemic oppression” has been eliminated?

How would that even be measured?

I’m pretty sure society as a whole won’t accept the standard of the more radical members of BLM, who see racism in the arrest of a every black criminal, no matter how violent or notorious.

Some of the phrases in its petition to ban police from the Pride march hint at the problem. For instance, the petition says “the policing institution is an instrument of state violence and oppression.”

Hmm ... kind of a radical view of policing. Most people view the police as the thin blue line between civil society and anarchy, where violent thugs would rule.

What does BLM propose as a replacement? If you’ve ever been to country without adequate policing, you’ll quickly gain an understanding about what real oppression looks and feels like.

How about this one? “Pride is a protest.”

Really? While the origins of Pride events, as BLM correctly points out, stems from protest nearly 50 years ago against anti-homosexual oppression, including police attacks on gay activities, over half a century the parades have turned more into a celebration than a protest.

While there is still room for improvement, the acceptance of the LGBTQ community, especially in the large cities, is pretty complete. How much more proof does one need when there are transgender bathrooms in community centres?

Or how about this phrase from the petition: “Pointing out instances of exclusion is not divisive. Being excluded is.”

Isn’t that kind of ironic — people wishing to exclude a group from one of the largest, most celebratory and inclusive community events of the year calling others exclusionary?

It’s not for me to tell BLM what to do. All I know is that, if you’re seeking to foster greater understanding between different communities, the last thing you want to do is create divisions. It goes against everything Pride events are about.