Pride began as a protest march - over the years it's morphed into a tourist-friendly, family-rated, fun, weekend entertainment stuffed full of corporate floats and a guaranteed winner for those who peddle hotel rooms. But it was born out of the 1981 bathhouse raids, when Toronto's finest hauled more than 300 men out of a gay bathhouse and arrested and named them in the street at a time when that ruined careers and caused public humiliation. It took 35 years for TPS to apologize.
I don't go every year but I did this time and was stunned at the hundreds of uniformed police marching in the parade representing much of southern Ontario. That in a way made me uncomfortable - no problem with LBQT cops in the parade, as welcome as anyone else, but the sheer number of cops was jarring. I'm a straight woman but the bathhouse raids sickened me and the G20 was horrific. I guess having police be included is a good thing, on balance, but I wonder if the goodwill has any bearing on the next time a black kid gets beaten up outside of the range of cameras.
At the end of the day, BLM has emerged because as a city, we still piddle around failing to address the tangible problems that our black friends and neighbours have clearly identified. Tory is a milquetoast WASP. People like Desmond Cole speak up loudly and clearly and we all go, "great guy, great writer, now where's the recipe section?" Carding hasn't gone away. So no surprise that BLM went to Pride - high visibility, great coverage, and they didn't have to vandalize or break the law. Nor did they when they camped outside TPS headquarters in winter. Good citizen protesting, good for them. So a few people didn't like having to wait an extra 30 minutes in the sun: big deal.
We could use more citizen protest. Tens of thousands in London protesting Brexit, love it. Anyone remember the Vietnam war protests, all over the world? I may be showing my age, but BLM did what is necessary. Power to the People!