Progressive Torontonians ought to pick their battles wisely, now. God, this is exactly how Ford was elected the first time around.
There is a silent majority out there who hates pride and hates all government/institutionally-sponsored LGBT outreach. You are not going to come out on top of a democratic political process by describing a huge percentage of the population as 'bigots' and 'homophobes'.
If you are vocal advocate of gay rights people probably won't approach you with their backwards views, but if you bothered to dig a little deeper you'd see that outside downtown Toronto most people do not at all relate to the LGBT cause. This does not necessarily mean people hate homosexuals, but rather that they perceive the contemporary gay movement as distant, obnoxious, and alienating.
And let's face it, this solidarity movement with Russia's LGBT community is very ideologically inconsistent. It is very hard to justify taking such a pro-active stance against Russia specifically when much worse human rights' violations are committed by our political allies around the world.
The right thing to do would have been to make sure a Canadian flag was put up there first and foremost, with the pride flag underneath. Then if there's any controversy simply suggest that the rainbow flag is a gesture of support to Russia's LGBT communities, who have felt threatened by that country's political climate, and whose cause can benefit from international support. Instead they played right into the hands of Ford.
Thank god for Ford's drug abuse and his willingness to break the law. Politically, Toronto's progressive circles have been completely incompetent for 5 years now. Losing the public opinion battle time after time.
