SF mayor, gay supe join police in skipping Pride parade
ebar.comSan Francisco Mayor London Breed and gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey have joined the city's LGBTQ first responders in saying they will not march in the Pride parade if organizers continue to prohibit police from marching in uniform.Earlier Monday, members of the San Francisco Police Officers Pride Alliance, the San Francisco Sheriff's Department, and the San Francisco Fire Department announced that, following 18 months of discussion with SF Pride, the organization that oversees the massive, yearly event, they had been unable to come to a mutually acceptable agreement about the presence of uniformed officers participating in the parade.
Consequently, the first responders would not be marching in the parade if they weren't allowed to do so in uniform. Breed has regularly taken part in the parade and has been known for her elaborate float entries in it since she served on the Board of Supervisors.
She said it was not an easy decision to likely not participate this year."However, if the Pride board does not reverse its decision, I will join our city public safety departments that are not participating in the Pride parade," she stated. "I've made this very hard decision in order to support those members of the LGBTQ community who serve in uniform, in our Police Department and Sheriff's Department, who have been told they cannot march in uniform, and in support of the members of the Fire Department who are refusing to march out of solidarity with their public safety partners."The board of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee announced in September 2020 that uniformed San Francisco police officers would be banned from the parade beginning in 2021.
