Petition pushes back against move to exclude police from Vancouver Pride Parade
VANCOUVER — A campaign to exclude police from Vancouver’s Pride Parade is experiencing pushback from a group that says not allowing officers to take part risks undermining the positive relationship between the LGBTQ community and law enforcement.
Sandy Leo Laframboise, a longtime transgender activist in the city, said more than 2,600 people have signed a counter-petition opposing demands from a local chapter of Black Lives Matter that the Vancouver police be banned from this year’s parade.
“How do you make progress if you don’t involve others? How do the oppressor and oppressee work together if they’re not involved together, if we don’t have those open discussions?” Laframboise asked Monday.
Black Lives Matter Vancouver asked police last summer to remove their float from the parade as a “show of solidarity and understanding,” to acknowledge the presence of uniformed officers makes some participants feel unsafe.