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Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Lesson: don't let BLM protest for black gay rights amongst the community.
You'll upset the straight white people?
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This guy isn't straight.
Dear Pride Toronto,
I am writing today to address concerns I have with your recent agreement with Black Lives Matter TO. I am particularly concerned with your willingness to remove all police floats and booths in future parades and community spaces. I should give you my background first.
I am a Toronto Police Service Constable, and a homosexual. I have been on the job 8yrs. Prior to becoming a Police Officer, I served in the Canadian Armed Forces and completed a tour in Kandahar Afghanistan in 2006-2007.
I never "came out" while serving in the military. Though not for fear of persecution, I only told a select few about my orientation. I was still quite young and was simply not ready.
It wasn't until 2012 that I decided to come out. I began to tell a few peers at work, and soon word spread. I can say with absolute pride, that my peers, and my employers/senior management have never made an inappropriate comment to me. I have never been made to feel discriminated against.
This year, 2016, marked a first for me. My first PRIDE parade. I would be working, nonetheless it would be my first one in any capacity. WOW what an event. What a spectacle, a joining of everyone.
The 2016 pride events really opened my eyes to something. The support that I have from my peers and supervisors has been unwavering. When I saw all those floats and officers marching (100's), I realized that my employer fully supports this part of me, and so many others like me. As I stood post at Yonge and College, ensuring a safe atmosphere, Chief Mark Saunders came up to me. I had the opportunity to salute him, and I knew that I had a leader who was invested in this celebration of PRIDE.
LGBTQ cops have struggled for decades. I am fortunate, because it is their struggles in the past, that have made my orientation an irrelevant factor in my workplace interactions. Members of police services, and their employers (like RBC, Telus, Porter, etc) have just as much right to participate as any other group. Police Officers are significantly represented in the LGBTQ community and it would be unacceptable to alienate and discriminate against them and those who support them. They to struggled to gain a place and workplace free from discrimination and bias.
I do not speak for the Police, and I do not speak for the LGBTQ community. I speak as an individual, one who saw his first PRIDE, only to be excluded from the next.
Exclusion does not promote inclusion.
Chuck Krangle
Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
It basically just goes to show that a portion of the people involved in it really have zero concept of it at all. It's origins are meaningless. It's just a "family friendly community parade!" The BLM movement took issue with the way the racially marginalised groups are treated amongst the queer community. That is a REAL problem. What do any of you know about it?
It's basically a reason I don't go to Pride parades. They are often meaningless. This one had meaning, and surprise, it upset a bunch of straight white people. Shocker.
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So you'd be cool with a group of gay activists getting up on stage at the Toronto Caribbean festival and refusing to leave until the board agreed to replace half the members of the Cari Fest board with LGBTQ members?
And who's to say the BLM leadership in Toronto is representative of the black community? What if next year members of the black community in Toronto announced they would boycott the Pride parade if BLM were allowed to take part?
The question is do all demands from people who feel they are disenfranchised need to be met. And if we put such power in the hands of anyone who claims to be disenfranchised, shouldn't we be concerned about what kind of people are attracted to lead these groups? The impulse to bully doesn't know any boundaries of race, gender, or religion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
You heard it here first. We're all the same and treated like it. No need to stand up for awareness. It's us homos and blacks that are causing the ruckus!
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Let's say we relocate humanity to two islands. On one island we'll put all the people who believe we should regard other people primarily as members of an identifiable group. On the other, we'll put all people who believe we should regard one another as individuals. I'm confident that your island will be a far less pleasant place than mine.