Black Lives Matter skips San Francisco's Pride Parade, citing police militarization

The Bay Area branch of Black Lives Matter (BLM) has decided to withdraw from this weekend's Pride Parade in San Francisco in response to a scaled-up police presence planned for the event following the mass shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub, a gay bar.

"The Black Lives Matter network is grateful to the people of San Francisco for choosing us, we choose you too,” said BLM member Malkia Cyril in a statement explaining the group's choice, which was shared by at least two other organizations: the TGI Justice Project, a nonprofit which works with imprisoned, transgender women of color, and the St. James Infirmary, a clinic serving sex workers.

"As queer people of color, we are disproportionately targeted by both vigilante and police violence," Cyril continued. "We know first hand that increasing the police presence at Pride does not increase safety for all people. Militarizing these events increases the potential for harm to our communities and we hope in the future SF Pride will consider community-centered approaches to security at pride events.”

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