Some members of the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) – an organization of LGBTQIA+ New York City Police Department officers – are upset they're not allowed to participate Sunday's Pride March in full uniform.

Heritage of Pride, the nonprofit that organizes NYC Pride, said in a statement that full police uniforms include the concealed carry of firearms, which goes against the weapon policy for the Pride March.

"Members of our organization and our community feel that we need to be safe in the March and in the space that we are inhabiting together. That means no weapons," Heritage of Pride co-chair Kazz Alexander told CBS News New York.

Alexander added, "We invite GOAL to be a part of the March, just not with weapons."

NYPD commissioner, GOAL president accuse Pride organizers of hypocrisy

Det. Brian Downey, the highest ranking LGBTQIA+ member of the NYPD and president of GOAL, says it's hypocritical that organizers of the march want the NYPD for protection, but won't let GOAL participate as a group.

"We're here to affect change. You're not going to erase us. You have to deal with us," he said.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch echoed the sentiment.

"It is the height of hypocrisy that uniformed officers from GOAL are fit to line the parade route and keep everyone safe, but they are unable to march in their own uniform and under their own banner," she said during a security briefing Friday. "That is in direct opposition to the inclusivity that the LGBTQ+ community has fought so hard for."

Downey said GOAL members participated in the March in the early '80s, then when the NYPD formally recognized the group in the mid '90s, they began proudly marching in uniform.

"I think it's just as much of a protest for us than it is for everyone else," he said.

In a statement, Heritage of Pride said, in part, "NYC Pride remains committed to finding a way to work with GOAL in our shared vision to improve policing as we continue creating safe spaces for the entire LGBTQIA+ community."  

This isn't the first time GOAL has accused NYC Pride of excluding the group.

Back in 2021, NYC Pride announced it would ban corrections and law enforcement exhibitors at events, citing a desire to " at a time when violence against marginalized groups, specifically BIPOC and trans communities, has continued to escalate."

At the time, GOAL's vice president called the move "shameful."

• NYPD