Irvin Won't March In Aurora Pride Parade, City Won't Have A Float

AURORA, IL — A week after Aurora pride parade organizers said they will not allow uniformed police officers from the city to participate in the annual event, Mayor Richard Irvin said he will not be part of the event.

Irvin, who is also an Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate, said in a news release on Tuesday that the city will not be represented with a float in the parade, which is scheduled to take place on June 12.

The mayor also announced that the city will not include Aurora Pride in its annual flag-raising event to commemorate the start of Pride month after the two groups had appeared together at the ceremony in the past.

“We have worked diligently for years to strengthen relationships between our police and the community without painting Aurora with the broad brush of a national narrative,” Irvin said in a statement issued by the city on Tuesday.

Irvin had previously given Aurora Pride until May 26 to change its stance on not allowing uniformed police officers or police vehicles to participate in the pride parade. However, two days after explaining their reasoning behind banning uniformed police from the event, organizers responded with a written statement to city officials.

While praising city officials and the city’s police department for being “excellent partners” in the parade in the past, Aurora Pride officials on Thursday again cited trust issues between the police and members of the LGBTQ community and people of color as being “remarkably low.”

"Many people belonging to these groups feel a great deal of anxiety simply in the presence of a police car, weapons or uniform,” Aurora Pride members wrote. “It’s been said that it’s unfair to paint all officers with the same brush, so to speak, and I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, the reality on the ground is that there is a perception that though negative incidents with police are the result of a small number of bad officers, it’s not always clear that there is enough being done to address those officers’ actions.”

Organizers said that it is within their power and responsibilities as the hosting organization to “try to reduce the tension and animosity” among the attendees and participants at the pride parade.

As a compromise, they offered to allow officers to appear in a “soft uniform” – such as a polo shirt with a Patch or logo from the police department. But officials said that no law enforcement groups had applied to participate, which Aurora Pride officials called a “missed opportunity.”

Irvin said Tuesday that police in the city rejected the proposal and that he agreed with their position.

“The impacted officers and the command staff of the Aurora Police Department are not in agreement with this, and I stand with our officers,” Irvin said.

He added: “One of the basic principles of community policing is to have the police who serve in uniform represent the communities they serve. Our LGBTQ officers, like most officers, do just that while regularly interacting with residents in their identifiable standard uniforms, not someone else's narrowed view and censored definition of a 'soft uniform'.”