Hundreds of thousands of people attended Sunday’s Pride Parade in downtown Toronto to mark the return of personal celebrations for the annual LGBTQ holiday.
Toronto’s first personal pride parade since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has headed south on Yonge Street before descending to Yonge-Dundas Square.
“The excitement, the accumulation, is finally here,” Sherwin Modest, CEO of Pride Toronto, said on Sunday. “We’re really excited to deliver one of the biggest Prides in Toronto ever seen.”
“Pride is more than just a celebration. Pride is a protest. It is a protest to send a message to 2SLGBTQ members around the world who are not yet free to be themselves.”
Modest said organizers expected between 1.8 and 1.9 million people to attend Sunday’s event and celebrations.
The latest Toronto Pride parade drew about 1.7 million visitors in 2019, according to the Pride Toronto economic impact report to the city of Toronto.
The parade started at 14:00. Other Pride events included concerts on Church Street and a bizarre skateboarding in Nathan Phillips Square.
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The return of the personal celebrations was extremely special for the people attending their first pride parade.
William Slag comes from Quebec City, Que. to be present with her boyfriend after she came out exactly last year.
“[Coming out] “It changed my life radically, I was myself, I’m 100 percent gay and I’m proud of that,” he said.
The 66-year-old said he had felt “terrible” all his life, but now that he has gone out and attended his first Pride, he feels free.
William Slagt, 66, says this is the first pride parade he has attended. He went out last year and attended with her boyfriend. (Talia Richie / CBC)
“I can say that I love myself, but before I couldn’t,” Slagt said. “It’s amazing to have that feeling.”
This was Anna Girgis’ first pride parade since they had just moved to Toronto. That gave them the confidence to go out, they said.
“There is so much love and inclusion in Toronto that you feel safe to go out and be who you are,” Girgis said.
For the first time in Pride Toronto’s history, the parade did not include vehicles powered by gas or disposable plastics to be as environmentally friendly as possible, Modest said.
Before the weekend, organizers said the festival was working with private security companies to conduct inspections at designated locations.
Modest said people entering designated locations would be checked for weapons using security sticks and metal detectors throughout the weekend to ensure that attendees could celebrate without fear.
Organizers said additional measures are needed given the reported increase in incidents against LGBTQ this month.
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