The Pride festival adds extra color to the streets of Stockholm. Photo: Daniel Holking/www.imagebank.sweden.se

Pride Park in the southern district of Södermalm is the heart of the festival, with its restaurants, shops and concerts. Art exhibitions, film shows and debates abound elsewhere in the city. But the most spectacular item on the program — and for many, the highlight of the festival — is the grand parade through Stockholm.

In 2002, the Stockholm police department became the first in Europe to permit their officers to march in uniform, which caused a considerable stir. The following years, police in Britain, Norway and the Netherlands were also given permission to march in uniform at respective Pride festivals. 

Support from the Chief

Göran Stanton, an officer for 30 years, was one of the founders of the Stockholm Gay Police Association and the person who most actively pursued this controversial issue in the force. Carin Götblad, who at the time had recently been appointed Chief of Police for the greater Stockholm area, expressed her support and steadfastly withstood the criticism that ensued. 

“To be honest, I was very pleasantly surprised at the support we were given, but the Chief of Police felt this was an important part of the police department’s diversity effort,” Stanton says. “The force is still a very male, conservative world.”

There was no lack of criticism of the senior officer’s decision. Those who opposed it argued that demonstrating in uniform contravened the rules laid down for police conduct. The Gay Police Association, however, argued that the event was not a demonstration but a parade.


Photo: Daniel Holking/www.imagebank.sweden.se

Milestone decision

“There was a lot of homophobia in the police force before, despite claims to the contrary,” Stanton says. “If you scratched at the surface, the prejudice was there.”

It takes time to change people’s values and attitudes, he adds, but much has happened in recent years. The appearance of police in uniform in a gay parade is one such milestone.

“Ultimately, the job of the police is to safeguard democracy in peacetime, which means we must show that we’re serious about diversity,” Stanton says.

Police officer Annika Lindahl will staff a tent in Pride Park during festival week. Her day to day work involves dealing with hate crimes, and she supports her homosexual colleagues’ right to parade in uniform. This is very important for two reasons, she says.

“Firstly, it’s important for those who march in the parade to show that it’s okay to be a police officer and openly homosexual,” Lindahl says. “But the signals this sends out to the general public and to society are just as important. We know that many homosexual crime victims prefer not to get in touch with the police because they’re not sure how they will be treated. Seeing that police officers take part in the parade will, I think, make them more willing to report offences.”


Carin Götblad never wavered in her support of the Gay Police Association. Photo: Benny Wilhemson

Diversity wanted

Lindahl believes that homophobia is partly a question of age. The younger generations of police officers are much more tolerant and unprejudiced, according to her.

“There’s a lot going on in this area nowadays,” she says. “Many in the force have already undergone LGBT training (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people), which involves working with values to a great extent. A lot of officers welcome the fact that we’re now taking these issues seriously.”

In the police tent in Pride Park, Lindahl and the hate crime duty squad will be joined by, among others, a diversity group, the Gay Police Association and recruiters.

“We’d like to see more minority groups choosing the police force as a career,” Lindahl says. She praises Götblad for taking a stand when the storm of protests reached its peak. At the time of the controversy, Götblad declared: “The day you white heterosexual men are in a minority, I promise I’ll let you join a parade, too.” It’s a comment that Lindahl likes to quote frequently.

Stockholm Pride...

• is in its tenth year.
• organized EuroPride 1998 and will do so again in 2008.
• attracted some 350-450,000 spectators and 30-40,000 marchers for the 2006 parade.
• receives widespread publicity, not least because of the parade, which this year will be held on Saturday August 4.
• has via its international solidarity fund contributed financially to Pride organizations in other countries, hitherto primarily in Eastern Europe.
• is made possible by the participation of more than 100 LGBT organizations and enterprises.

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Charlotte Celsing (M.A.) is a freelance journalist who has lived and worked in Indonesia, Fiji and Australia. She currently writes for the daily press and monthly publications, and recently published her first book.

The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.

Translation: Stephen Croall

Classification: A206EN

© Photos 1 - 2: Peppe Arninge/Scanpix
© Photo 3: Benny Wilhemson