Black Lives Matter get police float kicked out of Pride Parade

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

What is this supposed to mean?

I'm not accusing you of anything sinister. Look up the origin of Pride parade. Gay Liberation marches commemorating the Stonewall riots, which was violent and incendiary but a key moment in the movement. The marches were organised by radicals that had a significant amount in common with the same "types" that organise the BLM movement.

The origin of the "parade" was political and abrasive. It was still fun, but it had a lot more in common with what happened in Toronto.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

This is the whitest thing I have ever read on this forum.

It is, but so this is.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

At the end of the day next year, I'm betting that BLM won't be allowed to put a float in the parade because of the disruption that they caused, and because they can't be trusted not to do it again.

And the Police will be invited back.

Too many Canadians are immersed in American political culture. They avidly watch the Daily Show, or Fox News, and get caught up in narratives that are about a completely different country. It's dumb. We don't need the mindless yowling of the American Culture Wars imported to Canada.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by peter12

Dude, why do you get to be the self-righteous gay crusader?

I was going to respond with a link to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"... but I thought it was probably a little much.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I was going to respond with a link to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"... but I thought it was probably a little much.

Yeah, but you don't know any of us. Your attitude/perspective is a clear example of the cognitive distortions brought about by this kind of in your face antagonism. You anonymize posters on this board so that you can out yourself as the only different person here. We are all white, straight, upper-middle class, ignorant, liberals, but you are the radical seer. It's a real problem.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by peter12

Yeah, but you don't know any of us.

Who is "us"?

[peter12]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Who is "us"?

Exactly.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

This is the whitest thing I have ever read on this forum.

False. This is much whiter than that.

[ResAlien]

You can try to wrap up the anti BLM arguments presented in this thread in whatever bow you want but at the end of the day it's still straight white people upset because they don't like how a marginalized group is handling their business of trying to be less marginalized. It would be funny if it wasn't so goddam sad.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

You can try to wrap up the anti BLM arguments presented in this thread in whatever bow you want but at the end of the day it's still straight white people upset because they don't like how a marginalized group is handling their business of trying to be less marginalized. It would be funny if it wasn't so goddam sad.

You don't think that there are other marginalized groups utilizing other methods for handling the business of trying to be less marginalized?

This sounds like a smug straight white person trying to justify everything at the cost of nothing.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

As far as Chuck goes, there is a lot of layers to that argument. On one hand, we shouldn't go catering to minorities according to you, but let's go ahead and cater to the feelings of one gay cop. Ignore BLM as a whole because who knows. If their representative or disruptive, but make sure you listen to this one gay person, just for good measure, because he's a cop.

There are several ways to assess the wants of BLM versus the wants of Const. Krangle and others.

Inclusivity:

BLM wants to exclude a group from the parade. Krangle wants everyone to take part.

Liberality:

BLM wants to restrict participation. Krangle wants to keep it open.

Democratic:

A small number of BLM activists imposed their agenda on a large organisation without any sort of elections or due process.

Utilitarian:

Judging by the reaction we're seeing now, this incident has caused public sympathy for BLM Toronto to decline. Unless they think they can achieve their goals through intimidation and coercion (and granted, those tactics seem to be working for them so far), they have made their goals harder to achieve.

[rubecube]

Are people not aware that Pride was basically sabotaged years ago by capitalism and opportunistic politicians? There's been a massive backlash going on in the gay community for quite a few years against the Pride movement.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Zarley

How is Black Lives Matter relevant to Canada? Does Toronto have a long history of police brutality culminating in the killing of innocent black individuals? Is there a culture of institutionalized racism that needs to be addressed?

I'd agree that we have issues here in Canada with racism, particularly towards the indigenous community, but the magnitude of these pales in comparison to the problems in the United States. To me, BLM in Toronto is simply an appropriation of a real movement in the U.S. by a group of foolish activists looking to bring attention to themselves.

Toronto does actually have large black communities that are largely ghettoized and marginalized. Neighbourhoods like Rexdale and Jane and Finch suffer from large amounts of institutionalized violence.

That being said, I definitely side with the police on this one. The police float is about allowing gay police officers to come out. It's not about celebrating the institution of the police. If anything, it's about pointing out a shortfall in that institution. It's about pointing out a traditionally macho/conservative attitude that prevents gay officers from coming out to their peers.

BLM is not going to do away with the police. We will always need police officers. They should be promoting change directed at inclusion and tolerance within the police instead of attacking every single police officer.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Are people not aware that Pride was basically sabotaged years ago by capitalism and opportunistic politicians? There's been a massive backlash going on in the gay community for quite a few years against the Pride movement.

Well, this speaks to something a little bit different, which I have addressed in other posts. This sentiment alone certainly does not justify BLM's actions, nor does it qualify the defending remarks of some in this thread.

[jammies]

Making demands that the Pride parade doesn't include the police is a "you aren't being inclusive enough because you're not excluding this group we don't like" move. I don't have to be gay, or black, or black and gay, to see that this is not the way forward to a more tolerant society.

[Jason14h]

Making demands that the Pride parade doesn't include the police is a "you aren't being inclusive enough because you're not excluding this group we don't like" move. I don't have to be gay, or black, or black and gay, to see that this is not the way forward to a more tolerant society.

But it is a way to get attention and more funding for your cause! Which is all they are really about anyways!

[fatso]

As I understand the story, BLM was clear they wanted gay or any other cops to be involved in the parade, should they want to be. What they were objecting to was the institution of the police having a presence, float or otherwise. From the CBC article:

But Jenaya Khan told CBC News her group is not looking to exclude officers who identify as LGBT from participating in Pride events, but it opposes floats accompanied by uniformed, armed officers — calling them a stark reminder of the history of brutality faced by the LGBT community and visible minorities.

"To be clear, we said, 'No floats. No police floats,'" Khan said. "But we have no desire to police the police in terms of whether they should actually be there or not when they're LGBTQ-identified."

Khan said her group's actions are in keeping with "histories of resistance" that have long been a part of the tradition of Pride.

"If we think about the dyke march that happened 20 years ago, gay men were saying, 'Why should you have your own Pride?' ... Twenty years later it's an integral part of what Pride is all over the world. We're saying, should we wait 20 years before black lives are also considered an integral part?"

[peter12]

Not that it really matters, but are these gay BLM activists?

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Bandwagon In Flames

Does anyone have an answer as to why BLM exists in Canada? And why they hate the Toronto police so much?

This actually pisses me off because racist police brutality doesn't exist in Canada. This is an actual issue in the US and has no relevance to Toronto or Canada.

I chalk this up as a bunch of ignorant people seeking attention and not realizing that there is a difference between Canadian and American police forces. They see cops getting trashed online and assume this hate applies to all policemen.

Kind of like when BLM interrupted a Bernie Sanders event and physically stole the mic from him, not realizing Bernie Sanders was always a champion of equal rights.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Are people not aware that Pride was basically sabotaged years ago by capitalism and opportunistic politicians? There's been a massive backlash going on in the gay community for quite a few years against the Pride movement.

And some in the gay community are happy with what Pride has become (including, presumably, gay capitalists and gay politicians). It's almost as though individual people can have their own valid opinions on important issues that don't tidily map to their race, gender, or sexual orientation. Isn't diversity of opinion within the gay community a diversity that we should recognise and champion?