Going to the Toronto Pride Parade has been on my bucket list for the past few years. My small-town conception of Toronto usually means that I think of going to Toronto as a BIG TRIP, and that I usually reserve going into the city for big events when I plan to stay overnight and make the most of it. An afternoon in the city has seemed like too much of a hassle, to be perfectly honest. It was just my luck, then, that the Pride Parade fell on the same day as my 10pm flight to Paris. And that Justin Trudeau would be there, too.
I tried to find out if there was anyone who would be available to come, but I theorize that many of them have the same conception of the city as I do. (I found out later that my Facebook broadcast had missed several friends that ended up at different parts of the parade, but what can you do?) So, after spending the night at Talaira's with my sister, they dropped me off at the airport and I took the UP Express with my massive backpack that would be home for the next two weeks and started walking down Yonge Street toward Dundas.
I found a spot along the parade route that was slightly more shaded than its counterpart across the street and staked out a space for myself by placing my pack between my feet. A woman asked me how long it would take the parade to get to us, and by virtue of answering her question, I'd made a new friend. It was Linda's birthday and she was visiting from Buffalo, NY, by herself because she loves Toronto and wanted to attend the parade. She managed to get right up to the barrier and made a space for me, too, and shared a tart with me that she had purchased earlier in the afternoon. We waited excitedly for the parade to begin.
The Parade demonstrated that all kinds of groups that are sometimes stereotypically considered homophobic stand in solidarity with their own LGBTQI+ individuals. It demonstrated the variety of LGBTQI+ groups and organizations. It demonstrated how corporate Pride has become - seriously, Home Depot? HomeSense? Those known crusaders for gay rights..... I saw the promotion of PrEP (http://www.whatisprep.org/), a medication that keeps HIV negative people from becoming infected. I also waited in the hot sun for half an hour while Black Lives Matter protested the parade.
At first, we didn't know what was going on. Part of the parade had gone through already, and nothing seemed to be coming. At one point there were coloured-smoke bombs, and truthfully, we were concerned that there had been an attack on the parade, as it was taking place in memory of the victims of the Orlando shooting. A quick Twitter search (I'm very resourceful!) turned up the truth. Some of the people next to us complained that "don't they realize we're all here supporting gay rights? Why do they need to make this about them?" I was getting extremely sunburnt and it was very hot and we were trying to keep our spirits up by passing water bottles across the parade route and making friends, but I disagree completely with these sentiments.
Pride has always been political. LGBTQI+ rights are intersectional. Marriage equality in Canada does not mean that there are not still things that Pride should be protesting for. The presence of Indigenous groups celebrating Two-Spirit and gay rights is amazing, but this community has many struggles that are ongoing, and those are part of their presence at Pride. Black Lives Matter can celebrate gay rights in Canada while insisting that they are still not free from discrimination and oppression - they have supported the struggle for gay rights for White people, and they expect White LGBTQI+ people to stand in solidarity while Black people across North America are experiencing violence at the hands of the police.
This wasn't a protest for the sake of protesting. This was a planned initiative with specific demands for the parade coordinators. And I support the politicization of the parade for these purposes.
The presence of the police is strange. There may be gay police officers and that is wonderful, but the police were the instrument of patriarchal heteronormative oppression and the catalyst for the Pride Parade in Toronto in the 80s. The raids on bathhouses during Operation Soap generated riots that ultimately became the Pride Parade. Why should we now pretend that police are the protectors of LGBTQI+ people? And as a collective, they are not protecting Black lives or Indigenous lives. Some may argue that this is a concern for South of the border. I don't understand this argument at all. It is akin to saying, "We don't care about those Black lives." If you care about Black lives at all, you will understand the need to protest in Canada as well as in the United States.
The acceptance of corporate sponsors weakens the purpose of the Pride Parade. Just because you can make your company logo into rainbow colours doesn't make you a champion of gay rights. Why are you here???
The absence of funding for groups like BLM in the parade is a problem, and they should be free to protest that if they choose to. #IAintSorry if that's an inconvenience for you.
A friend of my benefited directly from these protests, in that Justin Trudeau was stopped in front of him for the duration of the protest, shaking hands with everyone in the area. He still looked dreamy by the time he reached us, soaked from head to toe in water, but he was maybe not up for shaking hands anymore, because he just waved at us.
What a beauty, eh? Elizabeth May held my hand for a full minute while she reached out to other people. That was pretty special.
Another highlight of the parade was the presence of the Orange is the New Black cast - there are problems with the show - but the diversity of the cast and the centering of lesbian stories is pretty awesome for something so mainstream.
Shirtless hockey players, male cheerleaders, loads of naked people.... what more could you ask for from the first day of your trip!
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