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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RECLAIM PRIDE COALITION AND ACT UP NY DENOUNCE NYPD ATTACK ON PEACEFUL PROTESTERS MARCHING FOR BLACK AND BROWN TRANS LIVES

NYPD SPARKS BLOODSHED AFTER STONEWALL RALLY

Photo: https://twitter.com/PrEP4AllNow/status/1268030773317246981?s=20
Video: https://twitter.com/mynameisjro/status/1268058792970932224?s=20

June 3, 2020 - New York City, NY - Fifty-one years after the Stonewall Uprising, the NYPD seems intent on repeating it.  Last night, the NYPD violently assaulted LGBTQ+ protesters hours after a rally at the Stonewall.  The event was raising awareness of the countless Black Trans people who have been murdered by police and other transphobic actors. 

Despite demonstrating peacefully, protestors were charged by police officers and beaten with batons and fists.  One Reclaim Pride Coalition and ACT UP organizer attending the march, Jason Rosenberg, was beaten so severely that he had to receive 9 staples across his head, and his arm was broken and completely dislocated.  The LGBTQ+ and AIDS activist sat in police custody for 6 hours, while police referred to him as “the bloody one,” and refused to treat his injuries or take him to a hospital.

The Reclaim Pride Coalition and ACT UP NY denounce the NYPD’s actions last night as a direct attack on the LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS communities, and specifically, the Black LGBTQ+ community.  “This attack follows a historic pattern by authorities of targeting minority groups in coalition in an attempt to fracture our unity,” said activist Jay W. Walker. “But the NYPD has forgotten an important fact: there have always been Black LGBTQ+ people; there will always be Black LGBTQ+ people; and we will never let you hurt our chosen family,” Walker went on.

“For the NYPD to deliberately attack LGBTQ+ demonstrators, who began this march at the very site of the legendary 1969 Stonewall uprising, sends a very clear message to our community:  We do not matter to the NYPD,” said Jake Tolan of Reclaim Pride Coalition.  He went on, “No matter how many gay cops join the NYPD, we will always be the targets of their violence.  There is no reform for an NYPD police force rooted in racist, homophobic, transphobic, classist, misogynist violence.”

Reclaim Pride Coalition demands the immediate defunding of the NYPD and the redistribution of their $6 billion dollar budget into advancing Black communities in New York City.  The Coalition, comprised of dozens of LGBTQ+ groups and their allies, vows to continue marching until their demands are met.

The Reclaim Pride Coalition held a press conference to address this attack on LGBTQ+ and Black and Brown communities by the NYPD today at 4:00pm at the Washington Square Arch.  Video of this event can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/queermarch/videos/556685661938021/