Police participation at Pride is sometimes fraught, given the history of police violence against gay people, but cops in Lincoln, England, were invited Saturday to join in with one of the gayest dances of all.
And who can't dance to the Macarena! @lincspolice All fun down at Lincoln Pride! 😃🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/JC6oXIBHlY
— Lincoln Police (@LincolnPoliceUK) August 20, 2022
Though the Macarena lasted barely moments, British conservatives are furious at the officers for joining in rather than "working", which is to say, grimly policing the gays. Lincolnshire police are telling them to go pound sand.
But members of the force, including Chief Constable Chris Haward, are standing firm, saying community engagement is just as important as policing crime. The RCAT spokesman said: "We don't always get it right, so if four minutes of dancing gets some folks hot under the collar, it's worth it to build trust with those who've had good reason to distrust the police in the past." He added that he was "more proud of how we serve Lincolnshire now" than when he joined the force more than 25 years ago. The spokesman took to Twitter at about 6.30pm on Monday, where the bulk of the discourse has been happening, saying that the team had received "lots of comments" regarding the team's support for the dancing officers and that a "minority" were from rural Lincolnshire residents who didn't agree.
I have a wee hunch that what happened is right-wing online gadflies tried to provoke a gays-vs-cops thing over this, but British conservatives didn't get the memo and ended up being the story.
Britain imports culture war discourse wholesale from America nowadays, but it's funny how the two mirror-worlds (as William Gibson put it) are out of alignment just enough for things to stay interesting.