Toronto Pride 2010: July 2010

Welcome

Toronto Pride 2010 was held from June 24 to July 5. Most of the photos on this blog were taken at the parade on July 4.

Enlarge any photo by double clicking it.

Posts and summaries:

Community Pride: AIDS Committee of Toronto, Toronto Compassion Centre, Out and Out, Downtown Soccer Toronto, 2Spirits.com, Canadian Tamil Congress, Thailand, Grupo Latino Hola

Hard Working Pride: Pride at Work, Ontario Federation of Labour, Service Employees International Union, United Steelworkers, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Toronto Community Housing, Toronto Transit Commision, Toronto Fire Services, Serving with Pride, Canadian military, TD Canada Trust, VIA Rail, Pizza Pizza, Budweiser, Spain Tourism, Virgin Mobile

Spiritual Pride: Unitarian, Anglican, United Church of Canada, Catholic, Student Christian Movement, Queer & Christian, Atheist

Family Pride: PFLAG, TransParent, Marriage

Educational Pride: Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, Toronto District School Board, Triangle Program, University of Toronto, Ryerson, York, Brock

Political Pride: Toronto mayoral candidates, federal political parties, Global Human Rights for Queers, Conflict in the Middle East

Entertaining Pride: Toronto Wranglers, Swingin'OUT, Salsa, Drums, Church Street Pipe Band, Marching Band, Queer Idol, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Cindi Lauper

You Look Marvelous Pride: AIDS Committee of Toronto, Kiwi, Filipina Drag Queens

Sexy Pride: Stag Shop, Goodhandy's, Fetish Night, Northbound Leather, Mr. Leather Ottawa, TNT!Men, Trojan, Pump!, Asexuality

Grupo Latino Hola

Community Pride

Community groups play a huge and essential role in bringing queer people together in the Toronto area. Xtra! lists close to 200 active groups in and around our city. We organize politically, we take care of each others health, we celebrate our various cultures, we pray, we entertain, and we have a lot of fun. This post is a tribute to our communities.

Healthcare organizations range from major well-esablished groups like the AIDS Committee of Toronto to the less well-known Toronto Compassion Centre.

AIDS Committee of Toronto

Toronto Compassion Centre

Toronto has many groups for queer sports and recreation. The Out and Out Club's 1000+ members have been camping, cycling, canoeing, hiking and enjoying the outdoors together for 30 years.

Out and Out Club Toronto

Downtown Soccer Toronto

Toronto is home to queers with roots in this land going back millenia, and to people from all over the world. Different community groups work to bridge at least two kinds of gaps: between queers and non-queers within their cultural communities, and between different cultures within queer communities. I'm not sure, but I think this float was sponsored by 2Spirits.com.

Canadian Tamil Congress

A float representing Thailand. Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the sponsor.

Grupo Latino Hola, Toronto's queer Latin American group. Unfortunately, I could not find a link for them.

Hard Working Pride

Business, organized labour, employee affinity groups and government departments and agencies also participate in the parade. They may have many motivations for participating: demonstrating support for our communities, soliciting our business, highlighting their employment practices, or defending our rights.

Pride at Work Canada

Ontario Federation of Labour

Service Employees International Union

United Steel Workers

Public Service Alliance of Canada

Toronto Community Housing threw the crowd some of the best swag of the parade: thousands of multi-coloured beaded necklaces!

Toronto Transit Commission

Toronto Fire Services were a big hit this year. Their truck had a water cannon that they would point to the sky, then they would turn it on. Delicious cool water would rain down on the spectators who had been baking in the sunshine for hours.

Serving with Pride, represents queer people serving with police forces. Toronto and area police forces were also participating officially in the parade.