If you need Rob Ford on July 1, you know where to find him: at his cottage, far away from the Pride Parade.
The mayor waded back into a familiar controversy Wednesday when he confirmed that he will be skipping the main event at Toronto’s Pride festival for the second year in row, telling reporters he plans to spend the day at his Muskoka cottage with his family instead. He wouldn’t however rule out attending another event during the ten-day Pride Week.
“We’re disappointed, obviously,” says Pride co-chair Francisco Alvarez. “But we do have a number of events over a ten-day period and we’re hopeful that he could attend one of those and really communicate the city’s support.”
Ford faced intense pressure to attend the parade last year, with even council allies and sympathetic media outlets like the Toronto Sun urging him to put in an appearance, but he didn’t budge.
Alvarez suggests that Ford’s repeated refusal to attend reflects a wider lack of concern for LGBTQ issues.
“Everybody prioritizes the invitations they receive, and he clearly doesn’t consider it to be a priority… He’s been largely absent, as far as I know, from any LGBT events in the city.”
While Alvarez concedes that some members of Toronto’s queer community believe Ford is anti-gay, that is not Pride’s official position and the organization will continue to encourage his participation.
Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam sent Ford a Pride invitation on February 2, and although she never heard back, until Wednesday morning she was optimistic that he would accept. She says the mayor’s snub sends the wrong message to queer Torontonians.
“He’s saying this community is not of great interest or value to him. He’s chosen to specifically ignore them,” she says.
Asked whether she thinks Ford is homophobic, Wong-Tam says there’s no way of knowing, but speculates other aspects of the mayor’s personality may make him nervous about attending the brash parade.
“I think the mayor is shy. I think the mayor is insecure,” she says. “Those are my observations. He’s never said anything homophobic to myself. But I do think that he’s misinformed.”
Ford isn’t the first person Wong-Tam, who is gay, has tried to convince to attend Pride. She says her own mother was reluctant to be a part of the event at first but overcame her fears after her first visit.
She’s hoping the mayor will have a similar conversion, and suggests if he’s unwilling to show up at the parade, he should at least attend this year’s Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) brunch, which she describes as a “very inclusive and safe event” that’s much more low-key than the parade.
“There are times where I see the mayor as the grumpy uncle that’s sitting in the corner,” Wong-Tam says, “He’s the last person in the family to accept the lesbian or gay niece or nephew that walks through the door, but eventually even the grumpy uncle will turn around.”
