Rob Ford, we need to talk. I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, Mr. Mayor, but then telling you how to do your job is part of my job, so here goes. You know how you’ve decided not to march in the Pride Parade in Toronto this year? That’s stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.Do you want to be stupid? Don’t answer that. Instead, remember for a minute how you based your whole campaign last year on “Respect for Taxpayers.” Some of us would have preferred you to say “citizens” instead of taxpayers, but still: that was a helluva strong message.
People could feel the respect radiating from your campaign: We thought we knew that whatever lunkhead crap might come out of your mouth in the heat of the moment, when the chips were down, we taxpayers could count on your respect.
Well you know who pays taxes? The One-Freaking-Million people who march in the Pride Parade each year. The queer residents of this city? They pay taxes. Those of us who love and support them, and work beside them and hang out with them? We pay taxes. The leather bars and bathhouses and bookstores and coffee shops on Church Street? They pay taxes.
You got a whole alphabet soup of taxpayers here: LGBTTTQQIA. It’s a mouthful, I know. But all you need to realize about that sting of initials is that it represents a giant whackload of Toronto taxpayers, and you need to extend them a tiny token of respect. Just like you promised.
See, it’s getting harder and harder for the queer people in this city to believe you respect them, since you know, YOU’RE CONSTANTLY DISRESPECTING THEM.
When you said only gay people and drug addicts get AIDS, and then you said that was a good reason not to fund AIDS prevention programs. That was disrespectful.
When you said you could never figure out what transgendered meant, and asked is it a girl dressed up as a guy or a guy dressed up as a girl — and then said your lack of comprehension meant we should cut programs — that was disrespectful.
When you said you were opposed to gay marriage in the mayoral campaign last year, that was disrespectful.
When you threatened to revoke funding for the Pride Parade earlier this year? That was disrespectful.
When you failed to stand behind the parents and family members of gay people at a flag-raising earlier this year to demonstrate tolerance for queer people? That was disrespectful.
And not marching in the Pride Parade, one of the largest street parties in the city and a tourist magnet that generates more than $100 million in economic activity here in a period of one week: Rob, that is disrespectful.
Maybe you’re worried because you’re afraid you’ll wind up in photos next to guys in crotchless leather chaps. Or maybe you’re worried that you’ll look like a schlump next to shirtless, oiled up hard-bodies dancing to some ntz-ntz-ntz music on the mayoral float.
But there are two things you should know: first of all, not all gay people look like that, and not all gay people dance like that. Hell, plenty of them look and dress just like you. But moreover, no one’s suggesting you march with Totally Naked Toronto Bears and Leather Daddies. You’ve been invited to march with PFLAG — the parents, families and friends of lesbians and gays group.
You know who will be marching with them, and who I’m sure would be overjoyed to have you join him? Brian Burke. Brian Freaking Burke. He’s the President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs — which as you should already be aware makes him like the POPE of STRAIGHT DUDES IN TORONTO. You can march beside him and not worry that people will call you a fairy.
Which leads me to one of the biggest reasons you really need to march. It’s the reason we have a goddamn Pride Parade in the first place. Because if you’re still working out some issues about how comfortable you are being seen marching with gay people, if you’re worried that some of your more crazy religious supporters are gonna abandon you, if you’re worried that some of your suburban football buddies are gonna call you a queer — just imagine for a moment what it’s like for people who are actually gay.
They fear being called names, or being disowned by their loved ones, or being slighted at work, or being beat up or even killed because of who they are and who they happen to fall in love with every goddamn day of their lives.
And you know what we’ve done in Toronto? We’ve made it so that those people can come here to our city, and especially to Church Street where Pride is held, and feel safe, and comfortable with who they are. They can feel proud. That’s where the name of Pride comes from, Sherlock.
Even here, they aren’t completely free of persecution and fear. But, and it’s a big but, they know that there’s love and support here for them, and that in Toronto homophobia and persecution are just not accepted. In this city, we marry gay people — to each other, mind you — at city hall. The chief of police marches in the Pride Parade. The president of the Toronto Maple Leafs marches in the Pride Parade. And for the past 20 years, the mayor of Toronto marches in the Pride Parade. It’s your freaking job to send the visible message that we support the human rights of all our residents.
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Source: The Grid TO
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