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Pride Toronto to bid for World Pride 2014

Who Knew!?

There's a World Pride Parade?

I have never heard of this, despite being gay, and an annual Toronto & Montreal Pride/DiversCité goer.

Where has it been held before? Were they successes?
 
World Pride is presented and awarded by InterPride, an international association of Pride coordinators. The first World Pride was held in Rome in 2000. It attracted an estimated 200,000 celebrants and drew ire from the Vatican and Catholics around the world.

Source
 
khristopher said:
World Pride is presented and awarded by InterPride, an international association of Pride coordinators. The first World Pride was held in Rome in 2000. It attracted an estimated 200,000 celebrants and drew ire from the Vatican and Catholics around the world.

Source
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Neat! Thanks for the info.

I really don't think Toronto Pride needs the 'World' moniker added to it; it's clearly already an International event which draws approx. 1,000,000 people to the City for the weekend (sure beats 200,000).

But Hey, we all know Toronto's inferiority issues when it comes to 'World-Class' Cities ("I wanna play, too!")
ie: Toronto --Clearly a Summer Olympic-worthy City-- loses the chance to host once, and decides to really downgrade their plans, and bid for the PanAm Games (not even the Commonwealth Games).

I bet Toronto, and Hamilton essentially, lose this bid simply b/c the PanAm Delegates will feel Toronto is too 'World Class' to host such a 'lower-class' sporting event (especially when it's sharing the limelight with Hamilton, Niagara & the East GTA).
 
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Very true. There's no doubt that our Pride is world-class as-is. It outclasses celebrations in much larger cities and has an unprecedented amount of government support (Diane Ablonczy scandal notwithstanding).

I guess it couldn't hurt to host world pride, but has anybody actually heard of it before?
 
DC83 said:
Neat! Thanks for the info.

I really don't think Toronto Pride needs the 'World' moniker added to it; it's clearly already an International event which draws approx. 1,000,000 people to the City for the weekend (sure beats 200,000).
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I think you have to be careful about those numbers. While, annually, someone estimates that there are a million people lining the parade route (a number that is often disputed as being way over estimated) those are not necessarily visitors.......we have a large, successful and (thankfully) open gay community in toronto so they themselves account for a big part of the group attending pride events/parade.....also, the parade has become a big part of the whole toronto scene so attracts a lot of people outwith the gay community but who call the GTA home. So even if the number is 1 million, it is largely people from here.

That being said, Pride does bring in some visitors and is a very special time in Toronto. From talking to people I know in other cities who have similar events, it is fair to say (I think) that ours is near the top of the list in terms of success and just general acceptance in the community. So, if there is this "world pride" thing it would make sense that a city of Toronto should get out in front of that and show the world how to have a gay community that is, both, internally and externally proud!

DC83 said:
But Hey, we all know Toronto's inferiority issues when it comes to 'World-Class' Cities ("I wanna play, too!")
ie: Toronto --Clearly a Summer Olympic-worthy City-- loses the chance to host once, and decides to really downgrade their plans, and bid for the PanAm Games (not even the Commonwealth Games).
Click to expand...

Well, I think we have moved on from the Olympics for a variety of reasons. One is that we have lost the bid twice now (Atlanta and Bejing were both games we bid hard on and got to the final vote). We spent a fair bit of time/money on those bids and there just always seemed to be "something" in favour of the other places. So, looking forward, the next possible Olympics for North America seems to be 2016.......and the USOC seems bent on getting that for Chicago....with the backing of the Barrack phenom it is hard to see them not getting the Olympics in 2016 and if they lose it is not likely to be to a city in a country our size which hosted the Olympics (albeit winter) within 6 years of that?....so what should we do not bid on any other events until the Olympics are set to come back to North America (2024? 2028?) or look at the next best option for building sporting/transportation/housing infrastructure?

DC83 said:
I bet Toronto, and Hamilton essentially, lose this bid simply b/c the PanAm Delegates will feel Toronto is too 'World Class' to host such a 'lower-class' sporting event (especially when it's sharing the limelight with Hamilton, Niagara & the East GTA).
Click to expand...

They did not think the same thing of Rio (also bidding for the 2016 Olympics) when they hosted the Pan Ams.
 
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^^ I can support a World Pride event for Toronto, aslong as it is centered around the Toronto (and Canadian, I suppose) Gay Community and NOT, about How Corporate It Can Be.

I have little faith in that, as I've witnessed the event become more and more corporately driven over the last 8-9 years that I've been attending the Festival(s). Although I'm totally hipocritical as those same corporations were the reason for my participation IN the parade recently hehe

So PLEASE less Pepsi, TD & Motorolla tats and more raising awareness towards/battling Toronto's Gay Community's New Fo: Ignorance Towards Safe Sex!
 
I am not gay but I think this would be an excellent event for Toronto. I just hope they keep away idiots like Jamaicans who are so anti-gay and make reggae songs about hurting and killing gays.
 
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Juan_Lennon416 said:
I am not gay but I think this would be an excellent event for Toronto. I just hope they keep away idiots like Jamaicans who are so anti-gay and make reggae songs about hurting and killing gays.
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Hmmm, only Jamaicans? How bout the Trinis??

That comment was pretty ignorant.

I actually was at Caribanna this year, with my black boyfriend, in Jamaica Gear (wearin a Jamaican flag although I'm very much white), and I did not have a problem with ANY body! No rude comments, no dirty looks, just a bunch of love being forwarded on.
 
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Anytime you can attract a "world" event, whether it's kite flying or an Olympics, it's a good thing.
 
I think "World Pride" is just a way for the organizers of the "World Pride" event to make money and really won't bring anything new to Toronto pride.
 
DC83 said:
Hmmm, only Jamaicans? How bout the Trinis??

That comment was pretty ignorant.

I actually was at Caribanna this year, with my black boyfriend, in Jamaica Gear (wearin a Jamaican flag although I'm very much white), and I did not have a problem with ANY body! No rude comments, no dirty looks, just a bunch of love being forwarded on.
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DC83...your argument is extremely weak and you clearly have no idea what you are talking about! My parents are Guyanese (but I was born in Canada), I have traveled to Jamaica, Guyana, & Trinidad several times for business with government officials, and I know more about this issue than you. Guyanese and Trinis might make their jokes about gays and lesbians (i.e. high pitch voice, hand on hips, etc.) but at the end of the day, we don't physically hurt them. Jamaicans take things to another level where not only do they make fun of gays and lesbians, but also they want to hurt and kill them. Look at the annual Jamaican Pride event in Jamaica where people show up to the event with guns and other weapons and Jamaican Police Officers do little or nothing to protect gays and lesbians. This issue is one of the reasons why there is a divide (you could argue the actual size) between Jamaicans and other West Indians and why the Black Community in Toronto cannot come together and tackle issues such as Black youth violence, education, etc.

I am blessed to live in Canada where we have repect for people regardless of their sexual orientation and not waste our time protesting or producing songs that promote hatred! I REALLY HOPE TORONTO GETS WORLD PRIDE 2014 AND I REALLY THINK WE WILL!
 
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Differences.....

I don't know that much about caribbean culture save for what info I get from my friends.

What does seem to come across is that generally speaking, within the jamaican community there is a disportionately higher level of crime and violence compared to other caribbean communities.

My roommate's family is from Barbados and she tells of how back home, many on her island don't have anything flattering to say about jamaicans for the most part. She was raised in Canada so she has no real exposure to the anti-jamaican stance of the relatives back home though her parents weren't fans of jamaicans either.

But what really sets her off is the media's insistance that all blacks belong in the "black community".

The way she puts it is that within the black community are a multitude of communites from different regions that really have nothing to do with each other save for having darker skin. In her opinion, there is no black community just as there is no white community either.

She asks do we all lump all white people into a "white" community knowing full well that there are differences between many based on ethnic and cultural differences?
Italian, portuguese, hungarian, polish..... etc.....

Don't tell the italians and portguese they're both the same at my work because someone is going to tell you how they are absolutely not like the other.
 
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