Fri 20 Jan 2017 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
LGBTI police will be banned from marching in this year’s Pride Toronto Parade as the Board vote to support demands made by Black Lives Matter during last year’s event. Sandy Hudson, Alexandria Williams and Yusra Khogali, co-founders of Black Lives Matter Toronto, at Pride 2016. Image: Paige Galette Black Lives Matter Toronto put a halt to the 2016 parade and made nine demands, including that police floats and booths be removed for all marches, parades and community spaces. The Pride Toronto membership voted in favour these demands at its Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday and the newly elected Board member Akio Maroon told local media outlet The Star “(In my opinion) the board takes its direction from the membership, and the membership has been very clear on where and what they want the board to do … a complete follow-through on Black Lives Matter’s demands. “…The logistics of how that is done, that’s going to be something for us to work out, the fine print. However, there’s 110 per cent possibility of us following through on what our members want.” Black Lives Matter Toronto also demanded that a commitment is made to having a continued space for Black Queer Youth including funding and logistical support and self determination for all community spaces, allowing community full control over hiring, content, and structure of their stages. Pride Toronto engaged in a “Dispute Resolution Process” that involved them working with protesters and making an apology for “a history of anti-blackness… that our organisation has continued”. In a statement released by the organisation in September they stated “We apologise that the lack of decisive decision-making has left many in our communities feeling attacked. This is the opposite of what Pride is all about. There has been an unbelievable amount of racism expressed by members of our community through this organisation. “When we received these demands – we understood that they are reflective of a long and difficult history between Pride and Black queer communities, but now also understand them to be reflective of our current efforts, or lack thereof, to improve relationships with Pride’s black community, and other marginalised communities. “For this lack of understanding, effort to address historic wrongs, and repetition of past mistakes, we are sorry. “Pride Toronto remains committed to all of the demands agreed to and presented by BLMTO.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 20th January 2017 - 11:10am