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Photo: Steve Ireson
Happy Pride Week!
My favourite time of year is officially underway, kicked off at noon today at City Hall by Mayor David Miller, Councilor Kyle Rae, and Pride Toronto co-chairs Margaret Ngai and Genevieve D’Iorio.
While I’m still shooting The Shaun Proulx Show on OUTtv, I’m also shooting a series for the network, called Summer of Pride. Wherever you happen to be this summer you can catch the Pride parades live on outtv.ca as I’ll travel to Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver covering some of Canada’s biggest Pride festivities. This project kicked off today with the commencement of the Pride granddaddy, here at home. We covered the annual flag raising ceremony this afternoon, but also before that I sat down with Rae in his office in City Hall to discuss queer Toronto, and his role as the first openly gay council member.
'Is This My Chin?' 'No, Higher.' (Photo: Patrick Marano)
After, I had a chat with Mayor Miller, who had been on my former radio show several times, in fact the last time I think he was on we talked about our affair.
Now He Acts Like He Doesn't Even Know Me. (Photo: Donald Gray)
Perhaps Our New Mayor Will Treat Me Right?
Anyway, last year there wasn’t a flag raising due to city workers striking, so it seemed a little more poignant this year to be back, and poignant also following the intense spring our community has experienced.
This is my fourth or fifth time watching the flag being raised, and I have to tell you: Friggen gets me every time. Lump in throat, tear in the eye.
I love Pride.
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5 QUESTIONS FOR: Kyle Rae – Lifetime Achievement Award
1. What is your first memory of Pride? We had six weeks to put on an event in a very hostile city!
2. What does Pride mean to you? Accepting that we are valued citizens, worthy of respect. We are an integral part of the grand diversity of Toronto.
3. What does your award mean to you? Recognition of 30 years of volunteerism, activism and leadership.
4. What would you say to today’s queer youth about the queer journey? Visit the Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives to learn how we got to this wonderful queer city today!
5. What’s your message to all queers this Pride? Be vigilant. We have secured our equality, but the right-wing religious forces remain opposed to our rights.
For more information on the Pride Gala Awards and to order tickets click here!
It’s here, it’s queer, I’m used to it!
Bizzy Friday ahead, with Deborah Cox, Divine Brown, and Kyle Rae stopping by the show today. Then it’s off to tend bar at Starry Night for The 519 Community Centre. (Thanks BTW to fab magazine for their ‘debonair’ comment above – no pressure! Am planning more on ‘fanciful’ for tonight anyway
Can’t wait, so excited, peace + love!
With Pride Executive Director Tracey Sandilands, Who Has Pulled This Year's Event Together In Just Seven Months, Remaining Cool And Collected The Entire Time. Love. Her.
What an absolutely wonderful night the Pride Gala was yesterday evening hosted by CTV’s Andria Case and CP24’s Omar Sachedina. Local luminaries Salah Bachir, El-Farouk Khaki, Matthew Cutler, Stephanie Johnstone, John Greyson and Leonardo Zuniga were honoured for work in their respective fields, with politicos from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to Ontario education minister Kathleen Wynne to Kyle “What am I doing presenting the Sports Award?” Rae all in attendance.
Wynne spoke of the important changes she is spearheading in schools, so that kids can feel secure and proud to be who they are – whether they are queer or come from queer families, citing her own queer family as example. ”Can you imagine what kinds of lives you would have led if you had come from an education system that included that?” she asked.
Uganda’s Victor Juliet Mukasa, our International Pride Grand Marshal spoke movingly about his struggle – and that of all queers in East Africa – so much so that Patrick turned to me after and said, “Victor Mukasa is my new hero.”
But perhaps the most moving portion of the night was at the top of the evening, when a video montage following a thought-provoking speech by Stonewall survivor Owen Levy showed vintage photos of the queer brothers and sisters who came before us, demonstrating what life was like even being queer here in Toronto in 1976 and showing what Pride celebrations have come to mean to us all as time has marched forward. And by the time the end of the presentation arrived, with a slew of photos of different Prides being celebrated around the world – some from countries whose names I’ve never heard of – WELL. My mascara was running down my face.
Truly moving, a real touchstone evening for what this week and the grand celebrations this weekend are all about.
I am deeply appreciative.
Local Legend Barbara Hall. (Image: Shaun Proulx Media.)
Former Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall was recently on the show. Here’s a transcript from when the conversation turned to Pride:
Shaun Proulx: One of the clearest Pride memories I have is of you marching down Yonge Street (in the parade). Which is a first for a mayor in Toronto. What does Pride mean to you?
Barbara Hall: An incredible warm feeling and a smile comes to my face. I think as much as I love the many, many things I did as Mayor of Toronto, the first Pride I walked as Mayor was probably one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The outpouring from a community who saw a level of recognition from ‘official Toronto’ that they had never seen before. And I still run into elderly people or young people who talk about the impact of having ‘the Mayor of Toronto’ – and I don’t confuse the office with the individual, I think it was the power of the position – and that sent a message to parents, to families, to neighbourhoods, to communities, to the country …
SP: To me. I remember feeling very empowered when I saw you, and different about myself.
BH: It tells you how change can occur. And it tells you how individuals standing up or speaking out or acting, can really change things profoundly.
Stay tuned all through Pride week for Toronto Mayor David Miller, Kelly Rowland, AIDS Vigil host Sheri Margolese, Divine Brown, Deborah Cox, Pride Gala Lifetime Achievement Award winner Salah Bachir, Kelly & The Kellygirls, International Pride Grand Marshal Victor Mukasa from Uganda, City Counselor Kyle Rae, Pride Gala Arts & Culture award winner John Greyson, laughs, Pride vibes, more laughs and the best beats on the FM dial – just for starters!
