The same fuss kicked off last year in New York City when Heritage of Pride announced that law enforcement officers and corrections officers would be unwelcome at any HOP events unless they were out of uniform and unarmed.

A lot of uproar ensued from the police, especially from GOAL, the Gay Officers Action League, even after HOP made clear to them that they could carry banners and march together while clearly identifying themselves.

It's beyond me why GOAL would have a problem with that. And it should be noted that while the uproar was going down, New York City Police were continuing to harass and persecute transgender people of color, which the queer press went to pains to report. At the same time, the NYPD was violently suppressing weekly Act Up and Reclaim Pride events outside the Stonewall Inn. Which, isn't that just jaw-dropping irony?

It's hard to understand why law enforcement officers believe they have a right to participate in Pride events in uniform. In fact, their insistence on doing so is strong evidence that they haven't reformed themselves and don't deserve to be at Pride — not in uniform, in any case.

When they take fundamental reform seriously, and when they work really hard to stop being violent and brutal do LGBTQ people, then we can start a dialogue.

But not until then.