The flag-raising that kicks off Pride Week is the most reliably warming of the annual events that take place at City Hall. Even during the Ford era, the necessary undercurrents of anger and defiance served only to enhance the ceremony’s significance. The crowds and media presence grew every year.
So today’s celebration, the first of John Tory’s mayoralty, was neither an epiphany nor a transformative revelation. But it was a pleasure.
Tory is seldom more likable than when showing leadership on queer issues, living up to the ideals of civic governance he promised to bring to the position. He manages, for a moment, to be the kind of mayor that we wanted to have and the kind of mayor that he said he would be. Of course, if Queers Against Israeli Apartheid were still around and Pride’s public funding once again at stake, Tory’s status as a queer ally would probably be in question — but if we allow ourselves to disregard alternate presents and even possible futures, we can appreciate what we have today.
It’s become a cliché among progressives to observe that John Tory is as bad as Rob Ford — or even worse, because he commands the respect and credibility to get through policies of which Ford could only dream. And while it’s true that there are many concerning similarities between them, the notion that the current mayor is no better than his predecessor is fantastically, alarmingly wrong.
No, Tory’s deeply ideological, evidence-free, and frequently dishonest stance on the Gardiner isn’t pinkwashed away by his queer-friendliness. Nor is the fact that his closest Council confidant and chief deputy mayor, Denzil Minnan-Wong, is a man whose views on LGBT matters are hardly more enlightened than Ford’s.
But this is more than Tory leaping a low bar simply by showing up. When he speaks of Pride, there is genuine pride. He understands that the event is both a celebration and a protest. And he knows that his responsibility includes listening and learning.
Kristyn Wong-Tam became the first openly lesbian councillor when she was elected in 2010, and was the only LGBT-identified member of Council during Ford’s term as mayor. Those were not necessarily “the easiest four years,” she said in introducing Mayor Tory. “But I can tell you, things have changed.”
Her relief was palpable.
“We clearly have more work to do” in advancing queer rights, she said. “And I know that each and every single one of you here today is committed to doing that work. And I’m very, very pleased to tell you that the political leadership at City Hall is committed to doing that work.”
With that, she called on Tory to speak.
He had some trouble with the LGBTTIQQ2SA* initialism, frequently saying “LGBTQS” or some variation of that. But at least it showed he wasn’t reading out his speech. (The term stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, two-spirited, and allies.)
Here’s a condensed transcript of what he said:
Well first of all, happy Pride, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to your City Hall, to our City Hall. I am standing here on behalf of my colleagues on Toronto City Council.
I have been proud to attend many Pride festival flag-raisings right here over the years, and now I have the privilege to be here in 2015 as an enthusiastic, supportive mayor of the City of Toronto.
We stand here today, united and eager to celebrate the diversity of the LGBTQS community. Pride has evolved over the years. It’s not that far back that we were talking about the need, and seeing the need, for our LGBTQS community to take to the streets to protest for their rights in the wake of the bathhouse raids in 1981. Almost 35 years later, a protest march evolved into a celebratory parade, and that parade has become a 10-day festival.
And that’s not to say that protest marches have become obsolete. Because we cannot forget — and I will not, and we will not, and I know you will not forget that there are still many LGBTQS people who need our help. The fight for equal rights is not over. It is unacceptable, for example, that LGBTQ2S youth are most likely to suffer bullying in our schools. It is unacceptable that a large portion of homeless youth identify as LGBTQS people. As mayor, I can assure you we are starting the process of tackling these issues head-on and continuing some of the work that had begun before. In this year’s budget, for example, my first as mayor, we made a significant investment to support young members of this community who have been left behind. And consistent with what Kristyn said, when Toronto acts, I hope the rest of the country indeed does follow, and we are funding in this year’s budget the first LGBTQ-focused shelter for homeless youth, soon to open in the City of Toronto.
It will provide a safe, inclusive space for those who need a helping hand, because that is what Toronto is all about: recognition, respect, embracing of everyone within our diverse population, help where it’s needed, help which meets the needs of different groups.
Now Pride is also about celebrating and it’s about advocating. I’ve been privileged to learn, for example, about issues in the trans community. I mentioned that when I was proud to attend the trans flag-raising here not too long ago. And it’s because of outspoken leaders like Susan Gapka and Enza Anderson, for example, who visited me year after year when I was a private citizen and when I was a provincial politician to help increase, very patiently, increase my understanding of those issues. And I have a much better understanding of those issues facing the trans community today because they kept coming to see me and coming to see me and coming to see to me.
And so, as your mayor, as everybody’s mayor, I am determined to continue to listen, to continue to learn, and to continue to act so that we can create here an even better and even more inclusive community. Pride of course is also a time to celebrate. It may well be our single biggest celebration that we have in this city, and it’s a celebration, I think, as much as anything else of how we live in this city. How we embrace and include and accept and respect each other. How we have it in our hearts that it’s all for one and one for all. How we take it to heart that if one group among us is disrespected or marginalized, it diminishes us all and diminishes us as a city.
I want you to know, I will happily and proudly see you at Pride events throughout this week. Once again, in 2015, Toronto’s mayor, accompanied as last year by my entire family, will march with enthusiasm, with happiness, and with pride in the parade.
Let me finish by telling our LGBTQS community that you have a friend in the mayor of Toronto. You have an ally in the mayor of Toronto. You have a friend in all of the members of the Toronto City Council. This is your City Hall. And together, starting today, and in fact starting this past weekend, we’re gonna have a great time this weekend and make this city what it already is but make sure it’s extra special, fabulous this weekend.
In the context, it was kind of touching.
As Wong-Tam remarked afterward, “What a difference an election can make.”
jonathang@nowtoronto.com | @goldsbie
