#PRIDETO 17’
You would think waking up on the rapturous, most colorful day of the year would brew perfect weather like taking your first sip of coffee. The thunder, lightning, and downpour of tsunami rain ( dramatics) could raise your body’s blood pressure thermometer to a point of breakage. It was hard to plan exactly if you should stay under-dressed with a glitter beard or glitter beard and fruit punch prism pants. The first ever Pride march was in the summer of the 1970’s, which is not that long ago if you pull out a calculator. This was a year into the future, where prior peace wasn’t cutting a 100% fair slice of cake. 1969, the LGBTQ community was involved in a riot in New York City after a raid circumstance at the Stone Wall Inn. Though with an era of love, peace and mother earth praises, you couldn’t have picked a better time to propose the power with a ring. Winnipeg, and Vancouver, BC were a few of the firsts in Canada to carry the “happy spirit”
Half an hour till showtime, the skies decided to cut the argument, sensing the anticipation trembling while everyone was making slight antsy movements waiting for the parade to start. Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau opened the march with contagious smiles. There was not one gent not expressing their inner “ Man Crush” with small leaps as they saw Mr.Trudeau. You could say our hearts possibly stopped when we made eye contact with Mr.Trudeau giving him a wave back. That was the topic of conversation for the whole day. The recognizable faces from the Indigenous Arts Fest followed the parade’s opening and I am still staggered how incredible their culture is. ( You can check out the Indigenous Arts Fest article by clicking HERE
The much agreeable feedback stating this parade was way better than anyone could expect. The music influenced anyone to dance no matter how ridiculous it looked. If you weren’t dancing and grooving to the beat, it would be considered, “not normal”. These are the moments where I wish could happen at least once a week, I believe the world would turn just a little slower and time would keep at a steady pace. We do respect everyone’s views but damn do we wish everyone could have taken part due to how FUN it was. With an afternoon like that, you hoped it could come sooner but didn’t want to end so quickly. The duration of the parade felt full speed even though it was a 2-hour fest. Sparkles and water guns were the invigorating part, losing your voice by cheering so loud was not. Would I say confidently that I saw some of the coolest, best-dressed people in the elongated streets of Toronto? Hell Yes! Below are photos we took from this year’s Pride. It was extremely hard to narrow down, best believe my every word, as there were hundreds we collected. Can you blame us?
