Gay Officers Action League not permitted to participate in NYC Pride March in full uniform. Here’s why.

NYC gearing up for 2025 Pride March

Some LGBTQIA+ members of the New York City Police Department are upset they’re not allowed to wear their full police uniform while participating in Sunday’s Pride March.

Det. Brian Downey, the highest ranking LGBTQIA+ member of the NYPD and a member of the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL), says it’s hypocritical that organizers of the march want the NYPD for protection, but won’t let GOAL participate as a group.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch echoed the sentiment.

“It is the height of hypocrisy that uniformed officers from GOAL are fit to line the parade route and keep everyone safe, but they are unable to march in their own uniform and under their own banner,” she said during a security briefing Friday. “That is in direct opposition to the inclusivity that the LGBTQ+ community has fought so hard for.”

Heritage of Pride, the nonprofit that organizes NYC Pride, said in a statement that full police uniforms include the concealed carry of firearms, which goes against the weapon policy for the Pride March.

“To be clear, GOAL is welcome to march without weapons like every other contingent,” Heritage of Pride said in a statement, in part. “NYC Pride remains committed to finding a way to work with GOAL in our shared vision to improve policing as we continue creating safe spaces for the entire LGBTQIA+ community.”

This isn’t the first time GOAL has accused NYC Pride of excluding the group.

Back in 2021, NYC Pride announced it would ban corrections and law enforcement exhibitors at events, citing a desire to “create safer spaces for the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities at a time when violence against marginalized groups, specifically BIPOC and trans communities, has continued to escalate.”

At the time, GOAL’s vice president called the move “shameful.”

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