I won’t be participating in Pride Northwest events this year. Being a gay health care provider who didn’t “come out” until my late 20s, I feel informed about trauma-informed care and appreciation of others. It’s one thing to talk about safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support and mutual self-help, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment voice and choice, cultural, historical and gender issues — the guiding principles of trauma-informed care – but it’s another thing to put them into action.
The decision by Pride Northwest to not allow uniformed law enforcement officers in this year’s Portland Pride Parade goes against these principles. How does my gay, out, proud Portland police officer/detective husband feel empowered in his community when he can’t walk in his work uniform in a parade encouraging people to be their authentic selves?
It’s not OK for us to ask him to run into an active-shooter situation in a school, or do a traffic stop, when legal guns exist on our streets, without the proper uniform and protection. This is his job, which he and his colleagues do day in and day out. If I can no longer see my husband demonstrate that the LGBTQ+ community walks in all uniforms of society, I no longer want to be part of that celebration.
Be proud. Be who you are. Don’t hide how you are part of our community, no matter what your profession is or what your uniform looks like. Trauma-informed compassion starts with empowering people to trust others again.
Jeff Myers, Portland
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