Every year, as ancient queer prophecy foretells, a meme rises up during Pride season to capture the Big Queer Mood. Last year saw the Gay Babadook slink onto the scene in his enormous top hat to encapsulate the dadaist absurdity and visceral fear of 2017.
But while the Babadook helped us to laugh nervously through the societal existential crisis that was last year, 2018 is more about rage, and this year, we’ve decided to collectively tap into our radical protest roots with a hilarious meme that simultaneously communicates our anger and satisfies our warped sense of internet humor — “no cops at pride.” Find an example in Danny DeVito, naturally, below.
The queer community's debate over police presence at Pride isn't a new one. Last year, for example, the Toronto Police Service was disallowed from marching in uniform at Toronto Pride after organizers agreed to a list of demands from the local Black Lives Matter chapter.
For many in the LGBTQ+ community, especially Black people and people of color who experience harassment by police at high levels, the presence of police at Pride is cause to feel less safe, and counterintuitive to the event's origins. Pride began, after all, as a clash with police at Stonewall.
The format of the "no police at pride" meme is simple enough, as internet memes are required to be. Just write "no cops at Pride,” and then whatever absurd thing you feel like completing it with. Think Cards Against Humanity, but queer and fed up.
The meme is in keeping with fevered debate over whether the queer community can or should integrate police in our Pride celebrations. Last year, a cop attacked a trans woman at a Florida Pride event. Phoenix activists shut down a parade in protest of police presence under the slogan, “No justice, no Pride.” It makes perfect sense that queer people are demanding that cops not attend.
The posts are hilarious to read, of course. But that such a radical thought as keeping cops out of Pride has become a meme could be an indicator of something bigger. It, along with the increasing propagation of slogans like “Abolish ICE” on social media, might be indicative of a left that is becoming bolder with its demands. The saturation of the idea that police shouldn’t be present at Pride could be a turning point for a more radical queer movement.
But then again, it’s could also just be a clever format to use Danny DeVito as a reaction image, and that’s certainly worth celebrating all its own.
Happy Pride, everyone! Meme away, and remember the radical roots of our community as you celebrate.
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