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Old 07-27-2017, 11:39 AM   #41
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Here are some quotes for an article for those that want to hear some actual statements from Pride and CPS on the issue:

Quote:
Calgary Pride outlined two conditions that must be met for police and similar agencies to join in the festivities: no uniforms (including any form of institutional representation, such as floats), and CPS Chief Roger Chaffin, Deputy Chief Sat Parhar, and CPS’ senior executives must take formal diversity and inclusion training.
Quote:
“It’s the participatory component, which is symbolic in nature,” Jason Kingsley, president and executive producer of Calgary Pride, told Metro. “To have uniformed officers and weapons in our parade goes against the historical roots of the liberation movement.”
Quote:
In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, the Chief Chaffin said CPS is committed to engaging with Calgarians who feel marginalized and will respect the sans-uniform request.

"We are obviously disappointed with the decision that police will not be allowed to march in uniform, but we are not going to allow it to undo decades of progress between law enforcement and the LGBTQ* [sic] community in Calgary,” Chaffin said. “We have a far better relationship with the LGBTQ* community now than we did even 10 years ago and we want to keep that forward momentum.”
Quote:
Kingsley said it was never a question of whether or not law enforcement could participate, but how.
“What we’re asking is that they’re participating in a way that’s respectful of that history [of marginalization] and demonstrates meaningful ally-ship to those in our communities who are most marginalized,” Kingsley said.
The requests were made in what Kingsley described as an ‘extremely positive’ meeting between Calgary Pride, Chaffin and VOICES, which describes itself as ‘a local coalition of Two-Spirit and racialized LGBTQIA+ community members.’
“CPS were willing to listen to what (we) had to say about police presence and they were willing to support this decision,” said Tet Millare, a VOICES board member who was at the meeting.
...
"CPS was willing to participate in any form necessary to show their support to the most oppressed and racialized members of the Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community," part of the statement reads.
https://m.metronews.ca/#/article/new...o-uniform.html

Good on CPS for listening and being supportive. I hope a lot of them show up if they enjoy participating in the parade. Hopefully more people can read these statements and educate themselves on the why. While some criticism is valid, I also think this has unfortunately invited the non-allies and racists to come out and soapbox, which is funny/sad given the situation.
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