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Toronto Pride Week 2004: A Celebration of Diversity

TORONTO, Digital Journal — Rainbow banners. An art exhibit called Well Hung. Tight leather shorts. Everyone asking, “So, you going to the parade?” All this excitement can mean only one thing: Toronto Pride Week was back in town.



Participants of the Pride Parade walk with the rainbow flag. — Photo djc Features

Celebrating its 24th anniversary, the week that has helped make Toronto famous featured events, parties, parades, lectures and guest entertainers to do what Toronto does best: celebrate diversity, enjoy the company of thousands and learn a thing or two about gay rights.

Leading up to this momentous occasion, Toronto held a Pride Week film fest and a lesbian march that snaked through the city’s core. But these events were only a prelude to the big event: the parade.



Toronto Police Staff Superintendent Emory Gilbert embraces a spectator of the Pride Parade celebrations. — Photo djc Features.

Once things got underway, Toronto was host to various fun and funky events like the The Beff Ball (a gay pride men’s dance) and Divalicous (drag queen performances). It’s no secret anymore that Pride Week events are meant to unleash your inner party animal.

Every year, thousands of people celebrate by lining the city streets to take a peak or to join in on the massive party. Water-guns, bubbles, floats and naked men populate the parade to better evoke that rich feeling of fun in the sun.



Toronto Mayor David Miller waves to the crowd during the Pride Parade celebrations. — Photo djc Features

A bonus for Pride enthusiasts this year was the inclusion of Toronto Mayor David Miller. Miller has long been a supporter of Toronto’s Pride Week and the City’s gay, lesbian and bisexual communities. Recently, Miller posed in an all-leather outfit for the cover of Fab magazine, Toronto’s gay scene publication to show his support. “Pride really establishes the pride of the gay, lesbian and bisexual community in Toronto, but it also makes a very positive political statement that Toronto is a cosmopolitan city of world stature,” Miller said in his interview with Fab.



The 2004 Pride Parade featured many floats of dancing men. — Photo djc Features

And he’s right. Pride Week not only enriches Toronto’s image, but it also pumps cash into the city’s economy. Every year, one million people take part in Pride festivities, injecting about $80 million into the local economy.

Pride Week’s ingenuity is the reason the city sees such a steady flow of international visitors. This year, a popular lecture featured sex columnist Dan Savage and author Ann-Marie MacDonald talking on “Queer Parenting: The Kids Are Alright.”

Also, R&B singer and eight-time Grammy award winner Chaka Khan performed at one of the week’s seminal events, Pride Ball 2004. The event entertained the 4,000 people that packed into the CNE’s Automotive Building on Saturday night.



CP24’s Camilla Di Giuseppe interviews participants of the Pride Parade. — Photo djc Features
A little-known sidebar to the festivities is an unprecedented commemorative gesture that is to take place soon: A local gay business group is planning to erect a statue of Alexander Wood, the man who founded Toronto’s gay community 150 years ago. A prominent businessman, Wood was a gay land owner of what is now the gay village at Church and Wellesley Sts. The Church-Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area plans to erect a 2.4-metre high bronze statue of Wood sporting a long wool coat with a flower in the lapel.



Every year, one million people take part in Pride festivities, injecting about $80 million into the Toronto economy
“This sculpture is a symbol, not only for gay people, but for all minorities,” group chair Dennis O’Connor told The Toronto Star. “Our intention is to put up other public art, but public art relevant to our community.”

Also in the works is an Alexander Wood beer, to be released from Muskoka Brewery.

www.pridetoronto.com



Toronto Mayor David Miller and City Counsellor Kyle Rae pose for a photo op with members of the LGCA. — Photo djc Features.

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