PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
Victoria Schneps-Yunis
CEO & CO-PUBLISHER
Joshua Schneps
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Matt Tracy
matt@gaycitynews.com
DIGITAL EDITOR
Tat Bellamy-Walker
tat@gaycitynews.com
FOUNDING EDITOR
Paul Schindler
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Duncan Osborne (News)
Donna Aceto (Photography)
Christopher Byrne (Theater)
Susie Day (Perspective)
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Nicholas Boston, Kelly Jean Cogswell,
Steve Erickson, Andy Humm,
Eli Jacobson, David Kennerley,
Gary M. Kramer, Arthur S. Leonard,
Michael T. Luongo, Lawrence D. Mass,
Brian McCormick, Eileen McDermott,
Mick Meenan, Donna Minkowitz,
Christopher Murray, David Noh,
Sam Oglesby, Nathan Riley,
David Shengold, Ed Sikov, Yoav Sivan,
Kathleen Warnock, Benjamin Weinthal,
Nicole Akoukou Thompson
ART DIRECTOR
Leah Mitch
ADVERTISING
Ralph D’Onofrio
718-260-2524
rdonofrio@schnepsmedia.com
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Gayle Greenberg
Andrew Mark
Julio Tumbaco
Miriam Nieto
Laura Cangiano
Kathy Wenk
Jeannie Eisenhardt
Lenny Vigliotti
Elizabeth Polly
Please call 718-260-2524 for
advertising rates and availability.
CO-FOUNDERS EMERITUS
Troy Masters
John Sutter
Gay City News, The Newspaper Serving Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender NYC, is
published by Schneps Media. Send all inquiries to:
Gay City News, One Metrotech North, Third Floor,
Brooklyn, NY 15201 Phone: 212-22-1890
Written permission of the publisher must be
obtained before any of the contents of this paper, in
part or whole, can be reproduced or redistributed.
All contents © 2021 Schneps Media
Gay City News is a registered trademark
of Schneps Media
Fax: 212-22-2790
© 2021 Schneps Media
All rights reserved.
FOUNDING MEMBER
P E R S P E C T I V E : G u e s t O p - E d
Embrace Inclusion
Kevin J. Coleman is a deputy inspector in the NYPD and a member of the Gay Offi cers Action League.
BY KEVIN J COLEMAN
I’ve been an openly gay police
offi cer for nearly 18 years, including
serving in Greenwich
Village’s Sixth Precinct and as
the commanding offi cer of Chelsea’s
10th Precinct. I joined the NYPD to
make a difference, to help people,
and to have a positive impact on the
neighborhoods of New York City. The
LGBTQIA+ members of the police department
have indeed joined for the
same reasons, and our representation
within law enforcement only advances
LGBTQIA+ equality.
I’ve marched in the NYC Pride Parade
many times — in my NYPD uniform
alongside the diverse membership
of the Gay Offi cers Action League
(GOAL) — so it came as shocking
news when I heard that Heritage of
Pride (HOP) actually made the decision
to exclude members of their
owncommunity from participating in
the annual NYC Pride March. While
I recognize the strife the police have
caused the LGBTQIA+ community,
exclusion of LGBTQIA+ police offi -
cers from participating in the Pride
Parade will not bring about safety or
justice.
HOP “seeks to create safer spaces”
for participants by preventing LGBTQIA+
police offi cers from marching
in uniform. Although the decision
may be grounded in good intentions,
the exclusion of an entire occupation
of LGBTQIA+ professionals in order
to make some individuals feel more
comfortable is exactly the dangerous
kind of reasoning that leads to
the marginalization of peoples. This
line of thought, to afford some individuals
more comfort at the expense
of others, has been used to devalue
factions of people throughout history.
Deliberate exclusion is a form of punishment;
it is harmful and dangerous.
It teaches people that it is okay
to ostracize people who are different.
The line from one’s sense of safety to
repressive marginalization is much
shorter than we all think.
Representatives of HOP have asserted
that police offi cers are “out of
place” at a march tied to the brutal
police response that led to the 1969
Stonewall riots. On the contrary, it
is exactly for this reason why it is
signifi cant for LGBTQIA+ offi cers to
march in the Pride Parade. In the
decades since the Stonewall riots,
courageous members of the LGBTQIA+
community have made the bold
decision to openly serve as police offi
cers, peace offi cers, and correction
offi cers within public safety agencies
across the United States. These offi
cers have chosen a career of public
service in a profession that has not
always been tolerant or accommodating.
LGBTQIA+ police offi cers are
to be celebrated, not rejected. The
KEVIN COLEMAN
mere presence of visible LGBTQIA+
individuals serving within the uniformed
ranks of the police department
demonstrates the progress of
LGBTQIA+ inclusion and activism.
It marks the advancement of a maturing
society.
Like it or not, LGBTQIA+ police
offi cers are part of the larger LGBTQIA+
community. LGBTQIA+
police offi cers face the same challenges
as any other LGBTQIA+ individual.
Though wearing a police
uniform may preclude us from participating
in the NYC Pride March,
it does not make us exempt from
hatred, bigotry, or inequity. LGBTQIA+
progress from within the NYPD
is progress for the entire City of New
York. HOP’s decision to exclude LGBTQIA+
offi cers turns this progress
backward.
Rather than encouraging exclusion
and vilifi cation, our community
should encourage LGBTQIA+ youth
and young adults to join the NYPD.
Continued positive change in policing
will not come from prohibition,
but rather from the inclusion and
diversity of individuals who are willing
to contribute in making a difference.
Kevin J. Coleman is a deputy inspector
in the NYPD currently assigned to
Patrol Borough Bronx and a lifetime
member of the Gay Offi cers Action
League (GOAL).
JUNE 3 - JUNE 16, 2 10 021 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
link
link
link
link
link
link
