"Today we are ..." - World Pride 2 of 2

"Today we are your spectacle...", read one side of a large poster at yesterday's Pride Parade in Toronto, "Tomorrow, we return to homelessness, poverty, mental health issues, discrimination and VIOLENCE!"

Yesterday's spectacle was not only a spectacle, it was an affirmation.  It was a safe space space for all people to come together to celebrate sexual and gender diversity, shine the spotlight on countries still living in the dark ages when it comes to basic human rights, and yes, flash a little skin!!!!  

Rainbow flags were ubiquitous, as were rainbow-themed costumes, which ranged from cute to outlandish and garish to, well, not my taste!

Our Sunday began with brunch together with a retired colleague, who also happens to be the parent of a former student of mine.  Two of her three children are gay, and about a third of those in attendance at the brunch were, too.  The barely-majority remnants were allies, and would imminently be outnumbered as we headed over to the Yonge street and poured onto the parade route along with thousands of other spectators.

From babies to the "young at heart", the spectators vied for a spot from which to watch the proceedings...  Alex and Simon lucked out and perched atop a garbage and recycling bin (it turned out to be a coveted spot that was immediately taken by replacement watchers the second the boys hopped off an hour and a half later when they headed off for a swim back at the apartment with our babysitter, whom we had enlisted for the afternoon!!)

It is estimated that this year's festivities drew approximately 2 000 000 people from around the globe, and the parade itself, typically consisting of about six thousand marchers and their floats, comprised about 12 000 participants!

After the Dykes on Bikes and the Grand Marshall (who also happens to be my pastor), flags from around the world led the parade, signifying the intentionally international flavour of this year's event.

In addition to lining the streets, many onlookers sat on the roofs and hung out the windows of nearby buildings...

Despite some recent, disturbing conversations I have had with a handful of fairly ignorant individuals, it was hard not to to feel optimistic when surrounded by so many happy, gay people!  The tidal wave of tolerance, acceptance and commitment to understanding the issues (rather than merely judging from a position of power and privilege) and furthering human rights around the world washes away the drips and drabs of the uneducated minority.

I'd never watched an entire Pride parade from start to finish before (to be honest, it wasn't until fairly recently that I truly understood its purpose, other than entertainment and shock value).  But today we stayed... well, for most of it anyway!  The usual 3 or so hour parade went over 4.5 hours (we actually had to leave to relieve our babysitter at some point, so did not actually get to see the end of it, lol!)

Some of my favourite moments of the parade included the CAP group (yes, there are gay pilots!!!), a costume with a giant CN Tower hat, and the political party floats, especially the Provincial Liberals (Kathleen WALKED with the people!!!)

And PEI Pride was also there... small but mighty (okay, well, they had to borrow someone from Halifax to help hold up their banner -- cuuuute!!!)

Spending a sunny day with friends, family and friendly strangers made me realise once again how very lucky I am to be living in a progressive country like Canada: Just when I'm starting to finally wrap my head around Stonewall and the historical and political significance of the Dyke March, I'm challenged to consider incredible hardships faced by people who live in places like Nigeria, where homosexuality is punishable by death, or Russia, where same sex families live in constant fear of their children being removed from the family.  What seems a frivolous spectacle , an extravagant luxury in Toronto is a fight for one's very being in many places around the world.

Increasingly, I have come to believe that there is only ONE fight for social justice:  LGBTI awareness, feminism, the Civil Rights movement, the fight to end poverty and child labour... all share tenets of the same battle.  

The more we can see the correlation, the better we can understand the true nature of unearned privilege and subsequently, the often resulting oppression of various people groups.  And as we understand it more, so we will hopefully come together as a global family to dismantle inequity and build instead a more peaceful and inclusive world.  Not in our dreams, somewhere over the rainbow, but really and truly and in real life.

In Toronto yesterday afternoon, such a world has already begun to blossom.