Informed officers should not march on pride at the London parade, the organizer said.
This move came after LGBT campaign participants sought to ban entry from the parade. This is partly due to Met’s failure to handle the serial killer Stephen Port’s investigation.
Veteran human rights activist Peter Tatchell said the incident, and recent exposures to homosexuality, racism, and sexist attitudes, mean uniformed officers should not march in the parade. I told the Guardian.
Tatchell said: “There are a lot of good officers and it is welcome to march in civilian clothes, but pride has to challenge the police as an institution, otherwise they will never reform.”
In a statement given to the newspaper, London’s pride said:
“We agree that police uniforms will upset that balance, so they have been adjusted to not appear in the parade.”
This move does not prevent individual officers from taking off their uniforms and marching.
IOPC, the guard dog of the police, announced last week that it would review the handling of the port case at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The murderer was free to kill four young gay men, and police could not connect them, even though three of the victims’ bodies were found within a few meters of each other.
Police failure was the last three victims of an inquest of Anthony Walgate (23), Gabriel Kovali (22), Daniel Whitworth (21) and Jack Taylor (25). It turns out that it “probably” contributed to the killing.
The Gay Liberation Front, which organized the first UK Pride March in 1972, is one of the LGBT groups seeking to keep uniformed police out of the parade, similar to another community group, Lesbians and Gays Support Zami Grants. was.
In an open letter, the two organizations cited “deep-rooted concerns” about the port case and police in seeking a ban.
“It’s time to end the practice of police participation in pride each year because of our deep-seated concerns about police and the history of pride itself as a resistance to police violence,” the open letter said. ..
“Their presence not only offends by being unfit, but also discourages others from celebrating in their community.”
The pride will return to the city of London on Saturday and hundreds of thousands of people will be sent as spectators or to participate in the parade itself.
I asked the Metropolitan Police Department for comment.