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Why Black Lives Matter pulled out of San Francisco's gay parade

Black Lives Matter said that it would not participate in San Francisco's pride parade, citing concerns about the police presence at the event.聽

By Christina Beck, Staff

Black Lives Matter Bay Area has announced Friday that it will not take place in San Francisco鈥檚 Pride Parade, citing concerns about the city鈥檚 decision to increase the police presence at the event after the nightclub shootings in Orlando.

Other groups have also announced that they will be pulling out of the parade due to city decisions which they say marginalize parts of the community.

鈥淎s queer people of color, we are disproportionately targeted by both vigilante and police violence. We know first hand that increasing the police presence at Pride does not increase safety for all people,鈥 said Black Lives Matter member Malkia Cyril in a press release. 鈥淢ilitarizing these events increases the potential for harm to our communities and we hope in the future SF Pride will consider community-centered approaches to security at pride events.鈥

Black Lives Matter, one of the intended grand marshals of the parade, also mentioned specific concerns about the San Francisco police department鈥檚 track record of killing people of color.

A series of racial scandals have plagued the San Francisco police department in recent months, prompting San Francisco mayor Ed Lee to ask for police chief Greg Suhr鈥檚 resignation in May.

Mr. Suhr had faced trouble for some time due to revelations that several police officers had sent and received racist text messages under his leadership. Then, the police killings of stabbing suspect Mario Woods and armed homeless man Luis Gongora prompted questions of whether the police department had followed the correct procedure in those instance.

The final straw for Suhr was a police killing of an unarmed African American woman which catalyzed a series of events on May 19 that led to Suhr鈥檚 resignation later that same day.

鈥淭he progress we have made has been meaningful, but it hasn鈥檛 been fast enough,鈥 said Mayor Lee in a news conference, 鈥渘ot for me and not for Greg, and that鈥檚 why I have asked Chief Suhr for his resignation.鈥

Against this context, the Black Lives Matter Bay Area group decided to withdraw from the parade this weekend.

鈥淔or us, celebrating Pride this year meant choosing between the threat of homophobic and transphobic vigilante violence and the threat of police violence,鈥 wrote Black Lives Matter in the aforementioned press release. 鈥淲e 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.鈥

Leadership from other groups, such as the TGI Justice Project (which advocates for transgender, intersex, and gender non conforming people in prisons) and the St. James Infirmary also announced their decisions not to attend.

The St. James Infirmary noted that the ban on shopping carts had the potential to exclude marginalized groups, such as the homeless, played a role in its decision not to attend.

San Francisco鈥檚 Pride Parade is not the only such event to see participation drop in the wake of the Orlando shootings. While many cities, including Cincinnati, have beefed up security at Pride Parades, Black Lives Matter and other black community groups in several cities have declined to attend, citing concerns about their safety due to an increased police presence.

Last weekend, BreakOut!, a group that seeks to end the 鈥渃riminalization of LGBTQ youth鈥 in New Orleans announced at the last minute that it would not attend the city鈥檚 pride parade due to concerns about the police presence.

Regarding her organization鈥檚 decision to withdraw from this weekend鈥檚 parade, Shanelle Matthews, director of communications for the Black Lives Matter network said in a statement that the community faces 鈥渞eal terror鈥 at the hands of police.

Black Lives Matter activists have also聽objected to the acquittal of Officer Caesar Goodson in the trial over the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray and last week, the Black Lives Matter released a statement blaming 鈥渨hite supremacy and capitalism鈥 for the Orlando nightclub attacks suggests that the organization will remain active in the coming months as US city leaders struggle to reconcile issues of public safety, racism, and bigotry.