SFPD honors LGBTQ+ officers during Pride Month
SFPD honors LGBTQ officers
As the city marks its annual Pride celebrations, the SFPD is honoring LGBTQ+ officers.
SAN FRANCISCO - In San Francisco, city leaders gathered at the San Francisco Police Department to celebrate queer officers and the diversity of the city on Monday.
LGBTQ+ Officers
What we know:
As the city gears up to host more than a million people celebrating pride, safety and inclusion are top of mind for both law enforcement and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
SF Pride events officially kick off in two weeks with several celebratory events before the big parade on Sunday, June 29.
Organizers said Pride is on, and despite concerns around funding, nothing was cut.
As the Pentagon discusses stripping Harvey Milk’s name off a Navy ship and the ongoing threats to queer rights, this year’s theme is "Queer joy is Resistance."
Can't take our joy away
What they're saying:
"They are not going to take away our joy in this city because you can love who you love and be who you are," said Suzanne Ford, Executive Director of SF Pride.
At SFPD headquarters, city leaders kicked off Pride month on Wednesday with an event celebrating its LGBTQ+ officers.
"SFPD has taken meaningful steps to become a more inclusive department, that work doesn’t just benefit LGBTQ+ officers, it makes the department more responsive culturally competent and more affective in serving every community in this city," said Mayor Daniel Lurie.
Chief Bill Scott said SFPD will make sure everyone feels safe at Pride. "Pride will be very heavily deployed, like it always is," he said.
Back in 2022, SF Pride banned law enforcement uniforms from the parade, but officers with the SFPD Pride Alliance said they’re proud to serve and proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Ofc. Kathleen McKiernan, Vice President of the SFPD Pride Alliance said, "I often credit the SFPD for giving me the confidence to be me, to walk in these boots as a masculine presenting gay woman, to be out and proud as a lesbian and as a police officer."
"Being in a department that supported its LGBTQ members is rare, especially given the traumatic history law enforcement has had with the queer and trans communities," she added.
"Of course, we know that with the history of our communities, there’s still pain," said Ford about law enforcement. "But overall in the four years I’ve been executive director, we’ve been able to work very closely to make sure everybody is safe."
"SF Pride spends over $600,000 on security for a layer between our community and the police," she added.
Historically, more than one million people attend the annual SF Pride Parade. The organization is still taking donations at sfpride.org.
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