Rhode Island Pride
15 hrs ·

For Immediate Release 6/17/2019

Rhode Island Pride would like to apologize to all affected by the presence of a law enforcement contingent in the Rhode Island Pride Parade.

Based on feedback from community listening sessions, the Rhode Island Pride Board met in early June to discuss the participation of law enforcement organizations in the Pride Parade.

The Board, in an attempt to not exclude members of our community, spoke with GOAL (Gay Officers Action League), currently the only law enforcement organization that participates in the Parade as a contingent. We explained to GOAL the community’s concerns and the agreement was reached that they would bring only one officer on a motorcycle to participate, and the rest of their contingent would not be in uniform. They also agreed to not run lights and sirens. We recognized this was a compromise, but we felt GOAL was acting in good faith for the entire community. A short time later, GOAL told Rhode Island Pride they were making a change to the plan and would like to add an unmarked car with no lights and sirens. Rhode Island Pride accepted this in return for their willingness to work with us.

At the time of Parade line up, GOAL arrived with two marked motorcycles and the unmarked car. At some point in time after they checked in, they circumvented the Parade barriers and, without our knowledge or consent, added a fully marked Warwick Police patrol car. They did this in a way that made it impossible for our volunteer at the location to stop them. During the Parade, they also had the lights and sirens active, violating their pledge to us.

This was a complete disregard for the concerns of the community and the agreement between Rhode Island Pride and GOAL.

This dishonesty and lack of compassion for the community only helps to reinforce this community’s distrust of law enforcement. The Rhode Island Pride Board of Directors has scheduled a meeting this week to discuss our next course of action.