‘Exclusion does not promote inclusion’
Constable writes open letter against group’s demand to exclude police from Pride
Gay Toronto cop on why it’s wrong to take police out of parade,
It was a day of extreme emotions for Const. Chuck Krangle, a Toronto police officer and a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Despite working in the city for eight years, Krangle, who is openly gay, had never been to Toronto’s Pride parade. But this year brought his chance to attend when he was assigned to work Sunday’s parade.
Krangle was blown away — by the spectacle, by the fun and by the number of fellow officers taking part.
“I was like ‘woah, what a coming together,’ ” Krangle, 30, said in an interview.
“I had no idea that there were that many cops that march in this, from all different agencies,” he said, adding that one of the highlights was speaking with Toronto police Chief and parade-goer Mark Saunders.
But by the time Krangle, who is a community response officer, finished his shift, there had been a change in tone: following a mid-parade protest by members of Black Lives Matter (BLM) Toronto, Pride organizers seemed to agree to make a number of changes to improve the event — including banning police floats and booths.
Having just participated in his first Pride, Krangle worried it might be his last. The move prompted the officer to pen an open letter to Pride Toronto, expressing his concerns about keeping officers like him from visibly participating.
“I do not speak for the police, and I do not speak for the LGBTQ community. I speak as an individual, one who saw his first PRIDE, only to be excluded from the next,” Krangle wrote in his letter. “Exclusion does not promote inclusion.”
Krangle’s message highlights the complexity of excluding officers from participating in Pride events.
Janaya Khan, who speaks for Black Lives Matter, said the ban was demanded because the presence of police can make some — including members of the black and trans community — feel unsafe.
Involvement in Pride events does not erase decades of police brutality visited upon many of those who at- tend Pride, Khan said, citing as an example the over-policing of female sex workers and members of the black community.
“The question is, do police floats matter more than black lives? And we really need to start teasing out what it means when increased police presence means that many of the LGBTQ-identified community members feel less and less safe,” she said Monday.
Khan added Black Lives Matter does not want to “police the police” in terms of their overall presence, but is against the institutions that they represent.
“That means the elimination of floats and removal of uniforms within the actual march itself,” she said.
But that visibility is exactly what’s powerful, says Krangle and members of police services who partici- pated this year.
“When I saw all those floats and officers marching, I realized that my employer fully supports this part of me, and so many others like me,” Krangle wrote in his letter.
“The support that I have from my peers and supervisors has been unwavering.”
It’s crucial for Pride Toronto to give officers who identify as LGBTQ an opportunity to participate as police officers, said Jean Turner, a civilian member of the RCMP and a director of Serving With Pride, a provincial network that supports LGBTQ police officers and other members of Ontario’s criminal justice system.
“When you are a police officer, you’re a proud police officer, and when you are LGBTQ, you are also a proud LGBTQ person,” Turner said. “It’s not just a show, it really is affect-
“When I saw all those floats and officers marching, I realized that my employer fully supports this part of me, and so many others like me.” CHUCK KRANGLE TORONTO POLICE
ing our daily lives.”
If police are not allowed to participate in LGBTQ events such as Pride, “it will feel like we are taking a step backwards,” Turner said.
Durham Regional Police Service deputy chief Chris Fernandes said in an interview Monday that it sends a strong message both to the public and employees when officers participate in the celebrations in uniform. Durham officers made their biggest showing ever at Sunday’s parade.
“We are proud to support Pride, and we do it every year,” Fernandes said, adding that not being able to participate “would be a loss for us.”
Saunders told reporters Monday he could not comment on the involvement of Toronto police in future Pride events until he could speak with Pride organizers.
But he said the service is committed to showing its support for those within the Pride community however it can.
“It’s not a one day a year thing, it’s a yearly thing. And we continuously have many things that we attend over the year with all of our LGBTQ communities. And we’ll continue to do that. So nothing’s going to stop us from doing that.” With files from Jackie Hong and Jessica Botelho