Today I went to see my first Toronto Pride Parade. The first group to travel past our location were some bikers. The second float was an amazingly beautiful homage to the Pulse Orlando Shooting. The float had hundreds of rainbow balloons, and a large 49 floating at the back while people followed closely behind holding signs with the face, name, and age of a victim. Everyone was clapping, a lot of people were tearing up or crying. It was incredibly emotional for the beginning of the Parade.
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So I wasn't there to witness the parade, but I understand that the sit-in have unintentionally elicited a reaction, especially as this took place after the Orlando mass shooting. This reaction may include fear, anxiety, frustration, confusion, and anger. Clearly, Pride Toronto was an event where people can celebrate queerness despite homophobia and transphobia being rampant in modern society.
One thing I'll have to correct you is that Pride Toronto is not a safe and accessible space, at least not to everyone. There are many poor, black, indigenous, South Asian queer and trans population who did not feel welcome in Pride, and this was evident through how Pride was organized. Which space gets funded? Who gets represented on staff? How the dyke and trans march been taken over and co-opted by Pride organizers. The police float was a giant "fuck you" to queer and trans people with mental illness, to sex workers, drug users, who are poor, racialized, and disabled. Who were beaten, carded, sexually harassed and have experience violence at the hands police.
Therefore Pride turns into a space that is accessible to a certain kind of queer people (middle class, white, cis, etc.) and turn their backs on others. This is violent. This is erasure. And this is not okay.
You point out that it was inappropriate timing for a protest, but when is it a good time? This is more important than the comfort of Pride attendees. This goes way beyond having a weekend to party, to drink, go clubbing and feel good about yourself. Pride itself is a political statement, and should be promptly addressing these issues instead of sweeping it under the rug.
The points you have mentioned doesn't need to be BLM's responsibility. Why blame BLM when Pride Toronto have failed to communicate with the crowd that a protest is taking place? All it took was a person with a microphone to run up the street and confirm that the event was safe. How would Pride Toronto even prepare for a violent attack when they did not even bother to communicate with the crowd? This is not BLM's responsibility, as they're already doing the heavy brunt of the work where other people will profit off of it. Pride have been and must always be political.
