Pride vs The Police

Recently I have heard news about police being secluded from marching in pride parades. I feel this is misguided as throughout our history we have struggled through oppression as a people, and as a culture. Those mistakes that hurt us, secluded us, and killed us should never be repeated by us.

The gay community has fought so hard to be accepted for the wonderful souls they are. They have faced fear, hatred, intolerance, disease, and death to get here, and yet we still have miles to go, not only for them, but for us.

There is still hate and intolerance in this world directed at the community. People so afraid that they hate instead of love, seek to label instead of understand, and turn a blind eye as good people die.

Through all of that struggle the gay community has marched on, head held high with pride. We have evolved our understanding of who we are, and what we stand for. As our community evolved and learned who we were, the picture evolved as we added new brushstrokes to that beautiful rainbow. Each contribution sparking like a star in the night's sky as we brought light to the darkness, hope to fear, and love in a hateful world.

I have heard that the reason police have been excluded was out of fear. The community fears the police for their heavy hands and blinded eyes. They seek to exclude them from marching until they understand us better, to protect us as they would anyone.

Police and emergency responders have some of the toughest jobs on earth. They have chosen to put their lives on the line to save others, and that is noble. Yes there are some out there that tarnish the badge, but most are beautiful, wonderful people who just want a better world like us.

We are all beautiful souls yearning to be loved, understood, and to stand equal. To see who we are, who we love, and what we dream about as equal to everyone else. We strive to bring others understanding about who we are, and what we stand for; we strive for freedom. To choose, to be the architects of our future, a future with rainbows so bright they bring light to darkness.

I ask this of the community, how can we teach them about us, who we really are, if we don’t know them. How can we know them, how can we build that common ground unless we talk to them. How can we then talk to them if we exclude them?

We place these obstacles between us and our fellow people to protect ourselves in some respects. Like walls erected between them and us, these walls don’t protect us—they leave us alone. We can no longer afford to divide members of our own species, classifying us vs them, creating sides that serve no one.

We need to teach them, learn from them, evolve with them. We need to come to a greater understanding of ourselves, so that we may contribute to the great tapestry of humankind. How can we complete the song, the crescendo of our species if we leave notes behind?

I don’t have all the answers, nor do I even know all the questions. What I do know is this, if we continue to exclude them then they will never learn our song. If they never learn our song how can they then sing it to the world, adding their voices to that great chorus.

The song of humankind is a testament to all those who created that song, the heartbeat of humanity. To exclude people from our struggle, our stories, our beautiful hearts is to leave a piece of that song unsung.

If we hope to find equality in this world, then we need to live that statement. We fought hard to find inclusion, we have bled and died to be known. It’s now more than ever we need to honour their struggles, to be seen, to be heard, to be loved, to be included, and to be inclusive, or we have fought for nothing.

“You either create a world for everyone or else you will end up in a world fit for no one”

John Ames Birch