|
|
The Chair of the Toronto Pride Committee, David Clark, appeared on the CTV Six O'Clock News today. He is shown on camera saying, in reference to TNT!MEN's desire to march nude on Pride Day:
"The only reason they are doing this is to embarrass the mayor."
This is in reference to recent reports that Mayor Mel Lastman says he will not be willing to join the parade ever again if there is any nudity this year. Since he is a guest at our parade, it seems rather impolite of him to be dictating terms to us.
David Clark is clearly making things up in order to gain sympathy for his prudish views. He apparently wants Pride Day to be a sanitised mainstream event, no doubt with an eye to corporate sponsorship. (I hope he isn't thinking of inviting Disney to design next year's parade!)
He forgets how recently it was that being gay was illegal, and just how difficult life can be for gay people who don't live in Toronto. Pride Day is a queer event, about sex and sexual diversity. It is inherently a political statement: "We're here, we're Queer, and we're Fabulous!" That will never be palatable to the fearful conservatives. That conservative gay people now feel safe enough to share their fear-filled views is a tribute to the sacrifice and hard work of the many radicals who paved the way for them. There were no conseravtive gay people at Stonewall, or the Bathhouse Riots in Toronto in 1981.
Clark also forgets that we marched naked last year too, long before Mel Lastman was on the scene. At that time, Toronto's mayor was Barbara Hall, who was very proud of the strength and diversity of Toronto's gay community, and who would not dream of trying to tell us how to run our own show.
That David Clark stoops to such blatant media manipulation shows how
desperately he fears the combination of nudity and pride. However, I wish
he would be more honest when discussing this complex issue in public.