No Looking Like a Cop at the Pride Parade

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

But it's not a small group....at all. 36% of women in the force have experienced sexual harassment. From two days ago....

http://www.660news.com/2017/07/26/ca...al-harassment/

That's horrific. It's stunning. And there's still not much changing because "changes aren't always as rapid as people want".

So now you've got an inordinate amount of good ole boys heading out to deal with the public and you actually believe things are going to go totally differently for the public?

I don't think complaints are a good way to measure police performance but they are up 45% in 2016 with contacts up only 8%. It's not getting better.

I'm not forgetting the hundreds of thousands of good police encounters every year. But I'm also not giving a pass on the "small number" you think is so insignificant especially when not much is changing. And your "small number" is not so small when they involve the same minority groups over and over.

Congrats you just painted all thousands of member of the CPS as "good ol' boys". Just as bigots probably paint LGBT people as members of the Village People or Lumberjack butches. And guess what? We're back to square one.

Love how Pepsi and OMG are equating historical injustices against black and minority groups in the states to injusticies in Calgary against the LGBT community. Apples to Oranges to Elephants comparison.

Oh, and defending it all with "perhaps you'd better serve the conversation by realising your opinion is irrelevant". The Godwin's law of SJW debates

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Love how Pepsi and OMG are equating historical injustices against black and minority groups in the states to injusticies in Calgary against the LGBT community. Apples to Oranges to Elephants comparison.

I'm not doing that, nor is what I'm talking about injustices in Calgary against the LGBTQ community. You'd be served well by actually reading the conversation, or at least reading the reasons behind Pride's decision, before making remarks that don't represent what's going on.

The relationship and history between CPS and the LGBTQ community is a footnote in this conversation and in Pride's decision. This is about respecting the experiences of minorities and their relationship with the CPS. The LGBTQ community isn't solely made up of gay white folks, there are people of colour as well, who carry an entirely unique experience.

But please Ducay, tell me more about how important your opinion about their experiences are. Tell me a story about growing up as a queer indigenous woman. Any story. What's your opinion on what that's like?

Wouldn't want to offend someone by suggesting that without personal experience, they might not be able to comment on the reality that someone lives.

[Mr.Coffee]

That 36% sexual harassment number seems very, very dubious. Basically I call BS.

[monkeyman]

It wasn't too long ago that people were complaining that our civic leaders and members of the community weren't appearing in these parades in support of the LGBTQ community, now they're complaining because they want to?
Certainly doesn't do anything to build trust amongst the two groups and sends a message of distrust rather than acceptance and only acts to enforce those stereotypes to future generations rather than erase them.

[Nufy]

So when will be the right time to participate in full uniform...

Do Calgary CPS / EMS Fire etc...have to request permission every year.

Or sit back and wait for the powerful minority to allow them back.

What happens is there is a change of exec between years.

Next year ok but not two years from now...

Please sir / madam etc...can I march in your parade ???

[Sainters7]

I wonder how much of this is the organizers just being afraid that BLM will hijack their parade again if they see uniformed officers, so they're trying to cut it off at the pass. Allowing themselves to get pushed around perhaps

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Congrats you just painted all thousands of member of the CPS as "good ol' boys". Just as bigots probably paint LGBT people as members of the Village People or Lumberjack butches. And guess what? We're back to square one.

Love how Pepsi and OMG are equating historical injustices against black and minority groups in the states to injusticies in Calgary against the LGBT community. Apples to Oranges to Elephants comparison

No I didn't. I painted "an inordinate number" of cps members as "good ole boys" because that's exactly what they are. CPS, RCMP, jail guards, they all have similar problems. Here, have a read...

https://www.crcc-ccetp.gc.ca/en/repo...arassment-rcmp

For decades, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has struggled with the problem of workplace harassment, bullying, intimidation and sexual harassment. Independent reviews, surveys, media reports and lawsuits have all highlighted the degree to which these significant and pervasive problems infect RCMP workplaces, and the damage that can result.

Here's the 2013 report from CPS...

https://www.scribd.com/document/3287...ry-Police-2013

They even call it by my name...the "Old Boys Network" and suggest it's a global issue associated with paramilitary organizations.

Here's the recent article on the report on prison guards in Edmonton...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...tion-1.4172365

So how does this obviously broken and patently toxic culture effect interaction with the public?

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ticle33891309/

Police culture may not be responsible for not following through with charges on every single sexual assault allegation. But it shows how easily a culture of hyper masculinity, loyalty and silence can influence interactions with the public. It's not a fixed problem.

I don't think it's unfortunate that Pride isn't recognizing all the great work and progress that's been done when the RCMP's own report says this...

There has also been no shortage of solutions proposed. In the past decade alone, over 15 reviews have been conducted of the RCMP and its organizational culture, identifying a dizzying array of more than 200 recommendations for reform. Unfortunately, few have been implemented

Kudos to those members who have risen above this nonsense. It's likely twice as hard to accomplish a good job of policing when surrounded by this culture.

[ToewsFan]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

That 36% sexual harassment number seems very, very dubious. Basically I call BS.

It's closer to 90% in reality...

[SebC]

Originally Posted by SebC

I believe we are at a place where the police should be there. Conservative politicians though, maybe not so much.

Heh.

Without clear policy supporting the LGBTQ community, members of the newly formed United Conservative Party won't be permitted to take part in this year's Calgary Pride parade.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...-ucp-1.4254092

Save

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm sure that Cody Johnson will be thrilled by that decision and Brian Jean who came out in support of Cody will be as well.


The parade organizers seem to be incredibly good at blanket bans.

[CliffFletcher]

Nothing says inclusion like exclusion.

[jayswin]

The Calgary Pride organizers have really jumped the shark.

[Fuzz]

I dunno ,when you read this:

Without clear policy supporting the LGBTQ community, members of the newly formed United Conservative Party won't be permitted to take part in this year's Calgary Pride parade.
Instead, UCP members are being asked to first complete a three-hour workshop hosted by the Calgary Sexual Health Centre aimed at increasing "the comfort and skill of professionals to talk about sexual health, relationships, gender and sexual diversity," according to a letter sent to party members.
"In the application process, we ask political entries to provide information on how they've worked with our community in the past 12 months," the letter states.
"As your organization does not yet have clear policy in support of the gender and sexually diverse community, we would like to encourage a collaborative learning opportunity, prior to participating as parade entries."

It sounds like Pride wants to ensure the UCP isn't just using this as something to tick off the box when they are confronted with "why didn't you march in the Price Parade?" They want to be able to say yes. But Pride has a pretty good point. If they have no policies and haven't actually done anything to support the community(and may be actively against them), why should they get to use it as a political point scoring mechanism? As with the police, they are being asked to participate in an education session, then they could participate. I kinda get their position, though they should ensure it is consistent across parties.

Pride isn't just about including everyone, it is about having people understand why they are there.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Nothing says inclusion like exclusion.

Seems appropriate to post this quote here too!

We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.

- Karl Popper

Blanket inclusion does nothing towards building an inclusive society. Excluding those who are part of a party that actively undermines inclusion or, at best, does nothing to promote inclusion, until a time when they are ready and willing to promote inclusion themselves, is what any moral society should be interested in.

That's not to say that all members of the UCP fail at being inclusive or accepting, but until the values of the party itself reflect the views of those members, and are not designed to appease (or at least not upset) the less inclusive members, then we should not allow them the opportunity to misrepresent themselves.

I'm pretty happy about this, because one of my biggest gripes with the Pride parade is the hollow, meaningless political grandstanding that it allows. Marching in the pride parade does not make you inclusive when the party you represent is not. Make sure the party you represent promotes inclusiveness and condemns those who aren't. Then feel free to march your heart out.

[nik-]

I still think the cop ban is stupid as hell.

The UCP one is perfectly logical, especially considering the past stances of some of the members of one of their forming parties.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by nik-

I still think the cop ban is stupid as hell.

The UCP one is perfectly logical, especially considering the past stances of some of the members of one of their forming parties.

Yeah, thats more or less how I see it as well. The Police are trying to put effort into repairing a sorely tried relationship, the UCP are just too new.

[jammies]

I might actually vote for any of the UCP leadership candidates who took this opportunity to stand up and say something like, "I want to be in the Pride parade, and I want our party to support not only the LGBTQ community, but equal rights and opportunities for all Albertans and Canadians. I will make it a central part of our party's platform to be inclusive of all, and respectful of all, and I call upon the other candidates to join me in this without reservation or equivocation."

One can dream.

[ToewsFan]

This is insanity. Police are people too and they should not be discriminated against

[GGG]

It really is an opportunity for Jean and Kenny to invite the LagNT community to help them craft equality initiatives. If they cam out and said we look forward to engaging the LGBT community on crafting equality policy and will attend as spectators they could get their political win at the expense of hurting their leadership chances.

Jean's response of I'm disappointed and always have supported equality rings of not getting the message.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by ToewsFan

This is insanity. Police are people too and they should not be discriminated against

What about Gay Police? Can we discriminate against them? No?

We're running out of people to discriminate against and fools and lepers are shouldering more than their fair share of the burden!