Congratulations to the men and women of Pride Toronto, their supporters and sponsors who made the successful bid to host World Pride 2014.
"WorldPride 2014 : what it means for Toronto Pride Toronto has been chosen as host city for World Pride in 2014. Presented by InterPride, World Pride promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues on an international level through parades, festivals, and other cultural activities. Announced in the first session of Sunday, October 18, at the annual InterPride Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, this will be the fourth scheduled World Pride since the event's inception in Rome in 2000."
link: WorldPride 2014 : what it means for Toronto
As with Toronto's twice failed Olympic bids, the LGBT community has been shunned likewise in attempts to host the Gay Games, despite enormously successful international athletic events sponsored by local gay sports organizations. The key this time seems to have been the absence of any US city bidding, no doubt because of the emphasis on equal rights at InterPride, the sanctioning body.
Given that the large international events, gay or straight, tend to rotate between Europe and North America, with infrequent excursions to Asia and Oceania, it was no surprise that the final vote was a content between Toronto and Stockholm. My experience with the Gay Games and a few other gay athletics organizations is that the American participants, who usually dominate by absolute numbers and wealth to permit them to attend the international meetings where decisions are made, are embarrassed by their country's appalling record on human rights for gays and lesbians. While they love to travel to Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver to enjoy the more open society [not to mention marry] they are reluctant to acknowledge the progress Canadians have made. The progress that makes the failures of the US equal rights campaign so apparent. The abuse that the Gay Games Federation, and later Chicago, cast on Montréal's successful bid to host the Gay Games, which was subsequently revoked, was not atypical. Too many on the American dominated board refused to admit that a city's bid to host the Games could have federal, provincial and city sponsorship. Their America-is-always-best instincts demanded that they divert attention from their own dismal record.
I haven't seen any reports on attendance, including by nationality, at InterPride in Florida this past weekend, or the voting rules. The Europe vs North America choice on the final ballot didn't surprise me. That Pride Toronto succeeded in its bid is heartwarming and deserves congratulation. Now let's hope the so frequently divisive Toronto LGBT community can unite behind the organization and make WorldPride 2014 an unprecedented triumph.
