Woburn Officer Loses Boston Pride Marshal Seat after Controversial Comments

WOBURN, MA—Boston Pride officials have withdrawn their marshalship invitation to Woburn Police Officer Anthony Imperioso due to controversial comments made on his Facebook page.

Boston Pride said Monday that Imperioso's invitation to be a marshal at the 2016 Pride Parade was withdrawn after discussions between him and the organization's leaders. The nature of the comments were not revealed by Boston Pride.

The Boston Globe, though, got a look at Imperioso's Facebook page, the newspaper reported, before it became unavailable Monday. Several comments disparaged members of Black Lives Matter and a protest they were involved in last year.

“Maybe we patriotic Americans should start protesting welfare offices and blocking those entrances then these lazy illiterates will go away,” a post on Imperioso’s page read with an article about the incident. “Oh and by the way the police need to start locking all of those people up.” Another post referred to protestors as “unpatriotic anti-American trash.”

Imperioso’s page was no longer available as of 4 p.m. Monday.

"As an inclusive organization, Boston Pride does not condone any language that is intolerant of racial, ethnic, or religious differences," the statement read. "Additionally, we reject language that promotes violence towards any individuals who are exercising their First Amendment rights."

The organization also stated that a review of its marshal nomination process is now underway and apologized for the lack of vetting in the process this year.

Imperioso also serves as the president of the New England Gay Officers Action League, and his Facebook page has seemingly been deleted.

Woburn Police were not immediately available for comment.