Rantz: Cops rip bigoted Seattle Pride leaders as they ban uniformed officers from LGBT march

The bigoted leadership at Seattle Pride walked back their promise to allow Seattle police to participate in the upcoming LGBTQ Pride march, announcing they are now barring uniformed LGBTQ officers from marching.

Initially, a Seattle Pride spokesperson explained to MyNorthwest.com that “all city departments – including SPD – are able to participate as contingents in the parade” this year. They’ve since had a change of heart.

“Due to the history of Stonewall Sunday and the fact that Pride was birthed from a riot against police brutality, Seattle Pride will not permit police uniforms, police vehicles, any police insignia, or police propaganda to walk in any parade contingency,” the organization’s leaders announced.

Members of the SPD have marched in the parade since 1994.

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No surprise: anti-cop activists attack cops

We shouldn’t be surprised that this happened. Seattle Pride is led by anti-police activists Krystal Marx and Carmen Rivera.

Marx is a former Burien City Councilwoman who was offended that the council supported a budget for the police department. After her embrace of the defund movement, voters leveled a humiliating defeat, rejecting her re-election attempt.

Rivera, meanwhile, is a criminal justice professor at Seattle University. She isn’t shy about posting anti-police vitriol and bizarre criticisms of the criminal justice system to her insufferable TikTok account. While amplifying the message “ACAB,” she railed against law enforcement as only there to control you, not protect you. She says government workers get into criminal justice because of their “white saviorism.”

SPD Chief pushes back

Interim Chief Adrian Diaz responded to the move by Seattle Pride with a biting letter.

The Executive Board’s decision, described as “discriminatory, demeaning, hateful and antiquated” by SPD Missing Persons Unit Detective Aimee LaClaire, has been met with sadness by SPD’s more than 100 LGBTQIA+ officers, commanders, and civilians, many of whom proudly walked in the parade annually with colleagues, family, and friends. The Executive Board’s decision is especially hurtful because other city workers will be allowed to participate in uniforms or insignia that identify their department, but not SPD.

Diaz says that while the SPD will patrol the event, since Seattle Pride leaders would call police and not social workers should there be violence during the march, SPD officers are now boycotting the march since they cannot participate in uniform.

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Will sponsors and politicians say anything?

Any business or politician that chooses to participate in this event should be met with the same contempt we should hold for Seattle Pride leadership.

According to Seattle Pride, the event is sponsored by Alaska Airlines, T-Mobile, Starbucks, Cheateu St. Michelle, and Tito’s Vodka. Do they support the anti-police views espoused by the intolerant Seattle Pride leaders? Spokespeople for these companies did not respond to email requests for comment made mid-afternoon on Wednesday. If they respond, I will update this story. If they don’t respond, I will remind you.

Aren’t you curious to know if this corporate virtue signaling is more important than standing up for police?

UPDATE: 06-23-22 5:30 p.m.

Tito’s is the first corporate sponsor to respond to my questions. The others, thus far, remain silent.

They now say they don’t support the anti-cop policy, but they still support the anti-cop organization. This is the kind of move that enables the intolerant policy that @TitosVodka says it opposes.

You can support LGBT people without supporting a bigoted pride event. pic.twitter.com/QvOR8r23Ik

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) June 23, 2022

When march organizers in San Francisco announced a similar ban on uniformed police, Democrat Mayor London Breed said she was boycotting the event out of respect for officers. Democrat Mayor Bruce Harrell did not respond to requests for comment made through his communications director. If he responds, I will update this story. If he doesn’t respond, I will remind you.

It’s unclear how many march-watchers or other participants will hear of this anti-police decision. But shame on anyone who attends knowing that cops are banned. We’re in a city experiencing a surge of crime and, unfortunately, odds are it will affect many of those in attendance at the march.

When a thief breaks into their home, when a homeless man terrorizes their kid’s school, or when someone shoots into random homes on their block, I wonder if they’ll reconsider calling the very people they’re seemingly content with throwing under the bus during pride festivities.

Seattle Pride doesn’t stand for the LGBT community

Chief Diaz pointed out the irony of the hateful decision by Seattle Pride.

“Many [LGBT officers] expressed extreme disappointment, calling the Executive Board’s decision an attempt to put them ‘back in the closet’ or ‘other us,'” Diaz wrote in his open letter. “Officers originally from out of state said they applied to SPD knowing they would be welcomed by the department and the City of Seattle. The annual Pride Parade has also provided officers the opportunity to show young LGBTQIA+ people that SPD values them.”

Marx, Rivera, and the Executive Board, however, don’t support that message. Police extremists don’t like it when cops show their support for the communities they pretend to represent.

But to be clear: Seattle Pride doesn’t represent the LGBTQ community. They represent the fringe beliefs of the leadership. And they’re using the organization to promote a political position, not the community.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3–6 pm on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow @JasonRantz on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Check back frequently for more news and analysis.

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