Protesting higher SF Pride security, 3 groups bow out of parade

People sat and stood anywhere they could to see the SF Pride parade in San Francisco, California, on Sunday, June 28, 2015. People sat and stood anywhere they could to see the SF Pride parade in San Francisco, California, on Sunday, June 28, 2015. Photo: Connor Radnovich, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Connor Radnovich, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 148 Caption Close Protesting higher SF Pride security, 3 groups bow out of parade 1 / 148 Back to Gallery

Three organizations have pulled out of this weekend’s Pride Parade in San Francisco as grand marshals in protest of the heavy police presence planned during the annual celebration.

Black Lives Matter, the Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project and St. James Infirmary are refusing to march in the parade in their honorary roles to make the point that they feel less safe, not more safe, with the added security, according to representatives of the organizations.

Security has been heightened this year in response to the massacre two weeks ago of 49 people at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Fla. The parade honoring LGBT community and pride will take place downtown and is expected to draw around 1 million people.

“For a parade whose theme is racial and economic justice, we just feel that increasing the police presence — with indiscriminate searches and pat downs, and undercover officers throughout the event — is really not the way to keep us all safe,” said Malkia Cyril, a Black Lives spokesperson who identifies as queer and gender nonconforming and had been planning to march with the group.

“A real safety plan would have been attacking homophobia at its root. Just throwing a lot of police at the problem and not changing the condition doesn’t do it.”

The justice project, commonly known as TGI Justice, posted a notice Friday echoing Cyril’s concerns.

“ In the aftermath of the Orlando shooting that took the lives of dozens of queer, trans and gender non-conforming people of color, many people in our community are afraid,” the project’s statement said. “For us, celebrating Pride this year meant choosing between the threat of homophobic vigilante violence and the threat of police violence.

“We had a tough decision to make, and ultimately we chose to keep our people safe by not participating in any event that would leave our communities vulnerable to either.”

Cyril said parade organizers were “very understanding” of the withdrawals. Calls and emails to Pride Parade leaders were not returned.

Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com