OFM Official Statement: Aurora Pride

This week, the news has been full of headlines about police and Pride, as New York City and Denver alike both moved to ban police presence, and many other cities followed suit. Yesterday, the Aurora Pride board reached a decision regarding allowing official police participation at Aurora Pride events. 

Aurora Pride is an event produced by the Out Front Foundation, not OFM (OUT FRONT Magazine). While the foundation originated under the OFM umbrella, it is its own, stand-alone entity.

This decision was reached by a vote through the Aurora Pride board yesterday via a remote meeting. The publishers of OFM, myself and Maggie Phillips, did not support the motion. However, the motion carried. 

As a queer media company with a 45-year legacy, we are not only committed to telling the stories of the LGBTQ community, but the communities it intersects with, including Black and Brown folks, people of color, women, and other marginalized identities. We have taken and will continue to take a strong stance to uplift those voices, and those voices are telling us they do not want police at Pride. While we respect Aurora Pride’s decision and autonomy, we do not support the decision to allow police to participate in Pride events at this time. 

We are fully aware that this is not the end of the conversation; it is just the beginning, and we welcome feedback from the community regarding this topic and all things related to Pride and intersectionality.