Maybe their time has passed.
There was a time when the LGBTQ community in Canada needed Pride Parades and all who came out in support of them.
But they’ve gotten to the point now that some of the people showing their support are dictating who can participate and who can’t, as in police officers are not welcome to march in the parades, but corporate Canada is welcome to use the parades to advertise its wares and services.
I’m not going to get into specifics, because I don’t want to quarrel with anyone about the issues in such cities as Toronto and Vancouver.
But I have to wonder about the message LGBTQ people are sending by excluding police officers from Pride Parades in Canada.
Yup. The very group that has been crying out for acceptance and equality is now discriminating against police officers who are showing their support.
That is not something to be proud of at all.
I don’t think the issue has come up in my home town, Montreal, yet. But if it does, I won’t be attending any more Pride Parades here.
In fact, I’m not even sure we need Pride Parades in Canada any more, considering that LGBTQ people, in most cases, have the same rights heterosexual people have.
Of course, I’m not against people throwing street parties, and if city administrations want to host such affairs for LGBTQ people, that’s cool.
But the moment LGBTQ people discriminate by barring supporters from participating, I’m outta there.
“Coming out” was never meant to be about putting hatred on display.
Pride Parades are supposed to be about love, the universal kind.
— Jillian
Photo: Pride Parade in some Canadian city in 2013. (Photo credit: GoToVan via Foter.com / CC BY)
Jillian Page 
And about accepting each other for who and what we are or aren’t. Exclusion is old school, thought we were done with that.
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aloha jillian…. are LGBTQ individuals still allowed to participate?… or are they also being banned??….
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Well said. But I keep wondering if mankind will ever get over it’s taboos + prejudices over “sexuality”. History of mankind doesn’t really indicate such. I think it does have something to do with Mother Nature who tends to be very unforgiving and reticent of revealing Her secrets. Requires PhD in Philosophy. But according Mark Cuban and other very wealthy men that is what we will require, as we are all ready facing extinction from our machines. Perhaps Hollywood had the answers many moons ago. The Terminator – Rise of the Machines., Ex Machina. Of course the pornographers have been way ahead of the curve. And also filthy, stinking rich. Just putting it out there. %@
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The first gay bar in Vermont was in the state’s largest community, Burlington, and it was located in a building where in the 1970’s a few men were told to stop dancing together, one night, or the police would be called. It was symbolic for that place to become the first, “gay bar,” in Vermont.
I remember when that bar closed, around 2006, after nearly 30 years. Some people asked where else might another gay bar open? But, the director of the local LBGT advocacy organization asked, was it really necessary to have a gay bar anymore? No one would look askance at men dancing with men, or women with women, at any bar or club, by then. In fact, I believe part of the reason that establishment had closed was that business had dropped off as their clientele were now frequenting other places. A victim of the successful progress of the movement. But, it’s cause was already served.
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This is similar to the massive Woman’s March in Washington, DC. They lost their way when they became exclusionary. They showed their true colors. It was not a march for all women. No, it was a march for feminists ONLY. If you are a woman who is not a feminist, you are not invited. You could not march if you were a conservative or if you were a woman who supported Donald Trump.
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I agree that it might be time for big, flashy, largely corporate Pride parades to call it a day. In Vancouver, “the people” tend to go to the smaller marches that weekend such as the Dyke March and Trans March. I haven’t been to the big Pride parade for many years. However, please read the statements from Black Lives Matter in Toronto and Vancouver. I might or might not agree with their demands, but they don’t come out of nowhere. For them, it’s about the negative experiences of some queer people with uniformed cops and military hardware.
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