Thousands of activists, allies and community members protested outside of Queen’s Park on Friday afternoon to defend and celebrate 2SLGBTQ+ rights and freedom.
With a banner reading “Pride is Political” across the speaker’s podium, the All Out Rally was a stark reminder of the roots of Pride: activism.
The event was put together by 15+ community organizations, including Rainbow Railroad, a not-for-profit helping at-risk 2SLGBTQ+ people around the world find safety. The organization’s Head of Engagement, Latoya Nugent, calls the rally a critical moment, uniting people across movements and borders while demanding a world where 2SLGBTQ+ folks can live freely, safely, and with dignity.
“The goal of the All Out Rally is to defend our collective rights, push back against rising hate, and affirm the power of solidarity,” Nugent told Queer & Now.
“At a time when trans rights are being rolled back, queer communities are being scapegoated, and far-right rhetoric is fueling real-world violence, this rally is a call to action — and to each other. It is a reminder that when one of us is under attack, we all are.”
The not-for-profit, who supported over 5,900 2SLGBTQ+ people in 2024 alone, is co-organizing the rally as their mission is rooted in the belief that safety is a fundamental right of every queer person.
“Around the world, queer and trans people are being persecuted, criminalized, and displaced simply for who they are,” Nugent explained. “We know that the forces threatening 2SLGBTQ+ rights in Canada and the U.S. are connected to the same systems that force our communities to flee in search of freedom.”
Nugent explained that Rainbow Railroad’s involvement is important as 2SLGBTQ+ rights are refugee rights, and it is impossible to ignore the way that racism, colonialism, and xenophobia compound the dangers facing our communities.
“We know that the fight for justice and liberation must include all of us — no matter where we come from or where we call home,” Nugent continued, adding that this Pride they are rallying in both celebration and resistance.
“We rally to say: we’re not going anywhere. And we rally to recommit ourselves to building a world where no one has to choose between who they are and their safety.”
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Curran Stikuts, director of advocacy at The 519, echoes this, saying that it was important to make it clear that queer communities and activists will be standing up to this rising hate against 2SLGBTQ+ communities.
“As we look both at home and abroad with the rising tide of hate directed to queer and trans folks and to refugees we thought it was a really important moment to make it really clear that we’re not going to meet these attacks with nothing,” Stikuts told Queer & Now.
“We’re going to stand up for the rights that we fought so hard for over the decades,” Stikuts said.
He explained that all of these issues are interconnected, as queer issues are workers’, women’s, refugee and newcomer issues as well.
“We see it in the continued difficulty that our trans siblings have in accessing health care and safe and affirming spaces in schools, we see it in the continued pressure that newcomer refugees face,” he explained. “We see it in relation to the rising level of hate crimes against 2SLGBTQ+ folks, so it’s really about understanding how all of these issues are facing us at once and the only way we can combat them is together.
Shelly-Ann Skinner, CEO of rally co-organizer UPlift Black, shared that they felt compelled to get involved in the rally because they wanted to highlight the issues facing the queer community both in Canada and abroad.
“If one of us [isn’t] free, then none of us are free,” Skinner told Queer & Now.
Skinner said that while we’re seeing legislation changes here in Canada and south of the border impacting the queer community, it’s important to speak out.
“We can’t be complacent. We have to continue to fight and to bring that awareness to the politicians and the policy makers that we aren’t going to be quiet,” Skinner said. “We’re not going to let our rights just be taken from us.”
Also important, reminding people of the nuanced issues facing those navigating life with various marginalized intersecting identities.
“Asylum seekers and newcomers who were on the streets when they came here seeking asylum, when, you know, refugees from the Ukraine were able to get houses and jobs. We saw African refugees on the streets and are continuing to still live in shelters and struggling to be resettled in a way that they should,” Skinner said.
“We need to continuously be loud and send a message to everyone that we are not going to let our rights be taken from us.”
Long-time activist Susan Gapka attended the rally with the Ontario Federation of Labour, part of the collective of organizations behind the rally. She explained that she was elated to be invited to take part in the planning process.
“I’ve been worried about the rise in hate against immigrants, Indigenous people, trans people,” Gapka, who is a transwoman herself, explained.
“So, we need to get out. We do a lot of political talk but I really wanted to do political action,” she said, adding that people need to get off their couch and hit the streets to fight for queer rights and freedom.
And community members showed up in droves, with signs and flags, ready to join the fight for queer equality.
“I’m here today because I don’t want my rights to be eroded the same way they have been in the U.S.,” a protester named Maria told Queer & Now.
“If you give in even just a little bit, they will feel they are entitled to take our rights and this is not permissible and we cannot allow it.”
“We want to support the cause because we are discriminated against in all societies that we reside in as queer people,” Retro, another rally attendee, explained.
“I think occupying physical space is incredibly important and showing people who are not part of our community the power we have when we stand together,” a protester named Chelsea shared.
The rally ended with organizers calling for signatures on a petition to protect and expand access for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Gapka explained that the idea is to gather signatures over the Pride season, and present them to the provincial government when it returns to session in the fall.
The petition is calling on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to do things like invest in and improve access to health care for 2SLGBTQ+ people, increase funding for 2SLGBTQ+ inclusive supportive housing, mandate the inclusion of 2SLGBTQ+ content in all Ontario publicly-funded schools, and provide additional and sustained funding for organizations supporting refugee claimants who are awaiting their hearings.
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