Up Close: NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill on WorldPride, city security

NEW YORK (WABC) -- NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill, by his admission, is a natural worrier, but that didn't come across when he sat down with Up Close anchor Bill Ritter for free-flowing conversation about New York City, police work, police suicides, hate crimes, next week's big WorldPride march in Manhattan.

O'Neill said even though next Sunday is slated to draw million spectators and 150,000 participants to city streets, New York City is prepared, thanks to other high-volume events like Fourth of July and New Year's Eve.

"We didn't just start working on this in June. We've been working on this for a year," he said.

The NYPD also invited hundreds of LGBTQ+ activists to be involved in security planning to understand and address the community's concerns.

"That's the whole concept behind neighborhood policing ... if we're going to continue to keep this city safe and make it even safer, we better make damn sure everybody in New York City is part of the process," O'Neill said.

We also explored why some religious people, even in 2019, remain uneasy and uncomfortable with the concept of supporting -- or even condoning -- gay rights.

We asked Father James Martin, a Jesuit who writes books and articles, a profound and simple question when it comes to this issue: What would Jesus have done?