OUR PRIDE INCLUDES OUR POLICE

A petition to the Vancouver Pride Society

The Pride Parade in Vancouver celebrates diversity and inclusion in the LGBTQ community and among all the people of Vancouver.

Vancouver’s LGBTQ community has a long history of positive engagement with the Vancouver Police Department, from the first Gay and Lesbian / Police Liaison Committee in 1977, through the 1980s with the work of community leaders like Jim Deva, Jim Trenholme and Malcolm Crane, and continuing today as the LGBT / Police Liaison Committee. We've been doing this work for 40 years now.

The visible involvement of the Vancouver Police Department and the RCMP in the parade, which dates back to 2002, signifies the progress we have made in our struggle for LGBTQ equality.

While the objections that Black Lives Matter Vancouver makes against the presence of the Vancouver Police Department in the Vancouver Pride Parade reflect historic and ongoing injustices against the black communities in major American and Eastern Canadian cities, they do not reflect relationships between Vancouver’s LGBTQ communities with local law enforcement.

WE STRONGLY URGE the Vancouver Pride Society to remain true to its mandate for diversity and inclusion by continuing to welcome our community police to fully participate in the annual Pride Parade.

PLEASE NOTE: We request that all comments added to the petition be respectful and in good taste. The moderators will not tolerate name-calling, hateful or racist language, or ad hominem attacks. These will be deleted as soon as they are noted. Thank you for your consideration. (added Feb. 20, 2017)