Reminder: Cops Should Never Be At Pride

Once again, police prove that their presence at Pride is a threat to celebrants themselves.

Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna attends WeHo Pride on June 4, 2023. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Earlier this month, the City of West Hollywood delivered a resounding reminder that cops should never be allowed at Pride events.

On June 3, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrested two activists during West Hollywood’s Pride celebration. The activists, Xodiac Rose and Abby Thomas, were at Pride volunteering at a booth for Equal Rights Amendment nonprofit Equal Means Equal. LASD claimed to have arrested Rose on an outstanding warrant for vandalism, battery, and felony robbery, while they charged Thomas with misdemeanor obstruction of an arrest.

However, the truth of these arrests appears to be far from what the sheriff’s department alleges. According to several reports, LASD arrested Rose, who is trans, on overblown charges related to the right-wing harassment of a drag story time event, and bystanders of Thomas’ arrest insist she was only asking deputies what they were doing before they began arresting her, too. It’s a great reminder that cops should never, ever be at Pride.