PROTEST AT PRIDE
"Rules Were Broken," July 5 2011.
Many contemporary news outlets during the operation of QuAIA describe the group with general disdain, and with upset that the group’s presence might result in the city and corporate sponsors pulling out funding from the festival. In an article from 2011– a year in which QuAIA did not formally participate in the Toronto Pride festival, a city councilor describes the presence of pro-Palestinian marchers at the years Dyke march. The counselor suggests the city revoke Pride Toronto’s $130,000 grant, and have them reimburse the city for donations received. The issue of censorship at the Toronto Pride festival is not solely with QuAIA, but rather to any displays of Palestinian solidarity and activism– as distractions to celebration.
In recent years, other groups have used the Toronto Pride parade as an opportunity to call for change within the city and globally. In 2016, Black Lives Matter (BLM) attended Toronto Pride as an honoured group. During the march, BLM halted the movement of the parade for at least 30 minutes, and called on Pride Toronto for certain action items. These actions included Pride Toronto adding more Black, Indigenous and transgender women to their staff, as well as a ban on police participation in Pride. The ban on police recognized the higher levels of police brutality faced by Black, Indigenous, Queer and transgender individuals. Pride Toronto agreed to both action items. Following the sit-in by BLM, their protest was unfairly characterized in the media as having co-opted the parade. Black Lives Matter’s demonstration at Pride 2016 was focused on the shared liberation of Black and Queer individuals.
At Pride 2024, the Pride parade was interrupted by a group called the Coalition Against Pinkwashing after Pride Toronto refused to meet with Queer For Palestine to discuss divestment from Israel. The protestors also called for Pride Toronto to end ties with corporate sponsors who profit off of the exploitation of individuals in Palestine. The parade ended early as a result of the protest, and Pride Toronto refused to hear out the groups.
"Gary Kinsman Letter of Resignation from Pride Toronto," April 21 2024.
Written by Gary Kinsman, and used in this exhibit with permission. https://radicalnoise.ca/2024/04/21/gary-kinsman-letter-of-resignation-from-pride-toronto-the-struggle-continues/
Earlier in 2024, Gary Kinsman resigned from Pride Toronto. Gary Kinsman was the last member of Pride Toronto who also worked in founding the 1981 Gay and Lesbian Pride Day Committee. Kinsman cited his resignation on Pride Toronto’s refusal to hold a Special General Meeting to adopt Queers in Palestine’s Liberatory Demand from Queers in Palestine. Kinsman describes today's Pride Toronto as being unrecognizable to its origins in liberation, but now being a showcase of “banks, corporations, and police.” Kinsman joined Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in marching in the parade, and urged others to openly back QuAIA. He also joined Black Lives Matter in the 2016 parade, and supported them from within Pride Toronto– especially when it came to concerns about policing. Kinsman later helped form the No Pride in Policing Coalition in 2018.