Following last year’s Pride parade in Toronto, voters at the annual general meeting chose to go with the demands made by Black Lives Matter Toronto. Black Lives Matter Toronto interrupted the parade last July with a half-hour sit-in and then only moved after Pride Toronto agreed to their list of nine demands.
Apparently to some, our demands are “too radical/divisive.” Look for yourselves fam #BlackPride pic.twitter.com/NxfaMnYUaf
— BlackLivesMatter TO (@BLM_TO) July 4, 2016
As seen above, this includes removing all police floats and booths in all Pride-related areas.
Our own Auckland Pride has faced similar difficult decisions regarding allowing Corrections to march in uniform with the revellers, with last year’s decision being controversial.
Major John Tory said in a statement that “the Toronto police have had a presence in the Pride [Toronto] parade for more than a decade and continue to make meaningful efforts to build bridges with the LGBTQ2S [sic] community. Also, we rely on our police service to keep Pride [Toronto] safe every year and obviously they must continue to do so.”
The board supports the demands and Aaron GlynWilliams, Pride Toronto co-chair, told the Toronto Star, “this isn’t a simple yes or no, this is about implementation and operations, and that will fall to the new staff and new board that’s going to be elected tonight to figure out not the what, but the how”.
