PhD student Andy Holmes recently published a research article titled “Marching with Pride? Debates on Uniformed Police Participating in Vancouver’s LGBTQ Pride Parade” in the Journal of Homosexuality. The article examines the controversy surrounding police presence at Pride parades. Andy collected data by conducting twelve in-depth interviews with participants of differing opinions. Half of the participants supported the inclusion of uniformed police officers in Vancouver’s annual Pride parade, while the other half disapproved of it. The article provides a detailed analysis of the reasoning and justification behind both group's opinions.
Andy is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on using sociological theories to understand how the necropolitics of the state intersects with crime, policing, and Pride marches.
We have included the abstract of the article below. You can also read the full article on T&F Online.
Andy Holmes (2021) Marching with Pride? Debates on Uniformed Police Participating in Vancouver’s LGBTQ Pride Parade, Journal of Homosexuality, 68:8, 1320-1352, DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2019.1696107
Abstract
How do activists defend their opinions regarding uniformed police being celebrated in Pride parades? Twelve semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in Vancouver, Canada with six people who supported the celebration of uniformed police and six people unsupportive of uniformed police in Vancouver’s Pride parade. Findings show four ways people frame their stance on uniformed police in Vancouver’s Pride parade. Those who support a police presence justify their stance with two arguments: historical progress and the transnational versus local resonance of social movements. Activists who do not support the police invoke two different arguments: memory of historical marginalization, and pinkwashing. These findings show that people who support the police in Pride parades focus on positive social change that the LGBTQ community has achieved, while those who are against focus on the specific ongoing oppression of members of the LGBTQ community by the police.