Meghan McCain and Sara Haines Blast NYC Pride March's Police Ban: They've 'Become What They Hate'

Meghan McCain and Sara Haines kicked off Pride Month with a screed about the New York City parade's ban on police officers in uniform. The duo joined forced to blast the "ridiculous" and "counter-productive" ban, which will remain in place until 2025 to give organizers an opportunity to reckon with the legacy of police brutality against the LGBTQ+ community. "What caused that violence from the cops was a hate and an ignorance," said Haines. "To then go back and paint them all with the same brush is to become the thing you were fighting from the beginning."

In recent weeks, NYC Pride has made headlines following organizers' announcement that law enforcement officers will not be allowed to march in uniform at this year's events. Organizers cited the NYPD's fraught relationship with the LGBTQ+ community and officers' harassment of gay and trans New Yorkers as justification for the in-uniform ban, and they have encouraged LGBTQ+ officers to march without uniforms, should they like to participate. As part of its Pride Month coverage, the topic made its way to The View on Tuesday morning, but save for Sunny Hostin and Joy Behar, the co-hosts sided with the police as they seemingly equated being abused by police with being told to march in Pride sans-uniform.

"I don't like it at all," said Sara Haines. "Change comes by those personal connections and representation. Having people in every walk of life that can be their authentic self ... We need people in all of these places to effectuate real and lasting change."

Haines then cited the quote, 'Don't hate something so much that you become it,' as an applicable mantra for this situation, as the NYC Pride organizers have "become the thing [they] were fighting from the beginning."

NYC PRIDE MARCH BANS UNIFORMED OFFICERS: Organizers of New York City’s pride events say police officers are not allowed to participate while in their uniforms, citing law enforcement’s history of targeting the #LGBTQ+ community — the co-hosts react. https://t.co/dEprsYLj0F pic.twitter.com/2qzttMz5yb

— The View (@TheView) June 1, 2021

After the commercial, Meghan McCain took her co-host's point and ran with it. "When you hate something so much, you become what you hate, and this is a classic example of that," she said. "If you're an LGBTQ+ police officer, the subtext of this is that you should feel shame to be a police officer while going to an event that is celebrating pride. That, to me, is just a complete disassociation."

"You can't ask someone to choose between these two things. And if we're going down this slippery slope, what's next? Are we not going to be allowing people in the military to wear their uniforms at Pride events?" continued McCain. "Don't ask people to choose the buckets of what they're allowed to take pride in. I think it's ridiculous, and I think it's counter-productive, and I think movements have to take allies where they can find them."

People are talking about The View in our forums. Join the conversation.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.