Rob Ford was applauded when he made a surprise appearance at an anti-homophobia flag-raising last May. But despite the warm welcome, there’s little sign he intends to attend the event again this year.
The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia ceremony is set to take place at City Hall on Friday at 12:30 pm. According to the organizing group, the mayor has yet to RSVP.
Irene Miller, president of the Toronto chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, can’t recall exactly when she first contacted Ford’s office, but says she has sent emails, left voice messages, and spoken with his staff, to no avail.
The response is usually “someone will get back to us,” Miller says.
“I know there’s a lot of stuff going on at City Hall, so we absolutely understand that. But he did come last year and we would make him very welcome again if he came this year.”
She says the most recent contact she had with his office was on May 10th, but she was planning on trying again Tuesday afternoon.
Miller wants to know sooner rather than later whether Ford will be there, because if not someone else will have to read the proclamation marking the day on his behalf.
“One looks at the calendar and one is either able to attend or unable to attend,” she says, noting that several councillors have responded promptly to PFLAG’s invitation. “And I would think someone in [the mayor’s] office should be able to let us know one way or the other, and then we can move forward as well.”
On Monday the mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford, was asked if he knew whether Rob would show up on Friday.
“I can’t answer for the mayor on that one. You’re going to have to ask him,” he responded. “I’m doing everything I can, put it that way.”
In March, Councillor Ford told a group of university students that the mayor had “confirmed” he would attend both the PFLAG event, as well as the flag ceremony to kick off Pride week. Less than two hours later however, Rob told reporters he didn’t know if he would attend.
The mayor’s office did not respond to an email from NOW on Tuesday afternoon.
Since taking office, Mayor Ford has been raked over the coals for not attending queer-related events. While his predecessors all marched in the hugely popular Pride parade, Ford has never been. Instead he prefers to keep the family tradition of going to the cottage on Canada Day weekend, on which the parade falls. He has also missed every flag ceremony marking the start of Pride Week, and never been to any of the 10-day festival’s events.
So it was a pleasant shock for many when he walked onto the City Hall rooftop for last year’s International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia flag-raising. People in attendance, including his political opponents, cheered his arrival.
He had already told PFLAG he wasn’t coming that day, but a visit from Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam reportedly helped change his mind.
The councillor was in a community council meeting and could not immediately be reached on Tuesday, but in March she told NOW that she would continue pressing Ford to take part in the PFLAG and Pride flag-raisings.
“It’s become my rite of spring here at City Hall,” she said at the time.
Update (5/14/2013, 5:22 pm): Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam had one of her staff check with Ford’s office Tuesday, and they were told only that the event is “in his calendar.”
“That’s all they can confirm for me,” she says.
But Wong-Tam, who for the past two years has attempted to get Ford out to queer community events, is optimistic he’ll be there. “I’m assuming if it’s in his calendar there’s a very good chance that he may be showing up,” she says.
