As we prepare to celebrate Seattle’s LGBTQIA+ community this weekend, we were disappointed to receive a letter from interim Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz calling into question our request that law enforcement officers participating in the Seattle Pride Parade do so in plain clothes, not in uniform, as a show of respect for the LGBTQIA+ community which has experienced much trauma at the hands of uniformed officers over a long history of criminalization of queer people and police violence against marginalized groups.Īs we explained in our communication with Seattle Police Department, our decision is based on the very real lived experience of our community, and informed by a May 2021 community survey in which more than 1,300 community members – who are the focus of this celebration – asked that police not be allowed to march.
