Second, do organizers of the Pride parade even want Ford there? Pride Toronto executive director Kevin Beaulieu said they would have to think about that given what he described as Ford’s recent “homophobic” comments. Let’s deconstruct both those comments to figure out if they make any sense.Ĭarroll’s comparison of Ford to Putin is over-the-top for a number of reasons.įirst, Ford doesn’t have the power to take away rights from people who are gay. Doug Ford, who is managing his brother’s re-election campaign, responded that Rob Ford isn’t homophobic and has many gay friends, he just doesn’t want to see “buck naked men running down the street.” Shelley Carroll compared Ford to Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning Ford’s refusal to attend the Pride parade in a year when Toronto is the host city for World Pride could provoke the same sort of international condemnation that Putin ignited before the Sochi Olympics for his anti-homosexual policies.Ĭoun. Normally, the fact he said that again in the first mayoral debate last week wouldn’t be “news” in the sense it’s not “new” information.īut because Ford said, “I’m not going to change the way I am”, as opposed to his usual response that he always goes up to his family cottage that weekend, the controversy re-ignited.Ĭoun. Rob Ford has never marched in the parade since being elected mayor in 2010. Just like Kulanu Toronto, Pride has always stood for respect, tolerance and integrity,” she told the Post.īut James Pasternak, a member of the city council and an opponent of QuAIA, said he was surprised with the group's lack of opposition this year, and expressed his belief that that it had less to do with a conscious strategy on the opponents' part and more to do with exhaustion with the issue.Can a candidate run for mayor of Toronto today and win, without declaring his or her intent to march in the gay Pride parade? “We’re not allowing ourselves to be distracted and consumed by QuAIA. His approach was echoed by Justine Apple, executive director of Jewish LGBT group Kulanu Toronto, who said they will focus on promoting Israel as a champion of LGBT rights. "We want to demonstrate to all those who are participating in Pride and who are watching Pride that Israeli society is totally unlike any portrait provided by ,” he told the Post. English said that though they are opposed to the group, they no longer want to be "upset by it." However, he said that the efforts against QuAIA have only aided it to get its message out. “Their message needs to be opposed because it’s clearly a lie,” English told the Post. However, a 2012 municipal report concluded that despite their opponents' claims, the phrase "Israeli Apartheid" does not violate Toronto's anti-discrimination policy, and a further committee ruled the group's participation in the parade does not constitute discrimination against Jews, either. Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, formed "in solidarity with queers in Palestine" (according to its website), has marched in Toronto's parade since 2010, despite opposition from some members of the city council and Mayor Rob Ford, who threatened to cut the parade's funding unless the group was booted out.
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“This year, we decided that we were not going to provide with the gift of free publicity,” Howard English, a spokesperson for Toronto's Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, told the Canadian National Post. New Zealand activists claim Israel 'pinkwashes'Ĭelebrating New York Pride with a side of social justice 'The Mideast’s biggest lesbian’ battles the homophobes, one Facebook like at a time Queers Against Israeli Apartheid will march in Toronto's Pride parade unhindered this year, as its opponents decided their campaigns against the group have only given it free publicity. Participants wave Israeli's flags during the annual gay pride parade in Tel Aviv, June 13, 2014.