Charlotte Pride will allow members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department to march in this year's parade.
In an interview with WFAE, Liz Schob, a spokesperson for Charlotte Pride, said CMPD officers would be allowed to march alongside City of Charlotte employees.
"All city employees, including CMPD, are welcome to march with the city," Schob said. "We work very closely with CMPD to make sure everyone is safe. So, yeah, you will see some CMPD officers there. And anyone who is a member of CMPD that wants to march in the parade is welcome to march with the city of Charlotte."
It signals the end of a ban Charlotte Pride enacted in 2020 amid Black Lives Matter protests in Charlotte and around the country in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
At the time, Charlotte's Pride's board of directors released a statement saying law enforcement groups would no longer be welcome to march in the parade or serve as festival vendors until the community was confident that police “are committed to the meaning of Black Lives Matter and treat Black and Brown people with dignity and respect."
The ban remained in place at least through 2022, when a Charlotte Pride spokesperson told WFAE the ban had not been lifted. A Pride spokesperson could not immediately confirm on Friday whether police officers were allowed to march in the 2023 Charlotte Pride Parade.
A CMPD spokesperson told WFAE on Friday that command staff were unaware of the ban, and were unsure if any officers planned to march with the city on Sunday.
The presence of police officers at Pride celebrations has been a polarizing topic around the country, with opponents saying law enforcement has a history of targeting LGBTQ communities, such as as the police raid of the Stonewall Inn in 1969 that led to an uprising and began the modern gay rights movement.
