Since its inauguration in 1991, Toronto has celebrated Pride Week with great gusto. U of T is heavily involved in these celebrations, and in fact held some of the first Pride events as early as the 1960s. Several queer groups such as the UT Pride Committee, which helps organize U of T’s involvement in Pride Week, as well as UTSU (formerly SAC), will be representing U of T in this year’s parade on Sunday, June 24.
Many organizations, including UTSU, support U of T’s queer community. This support is important because it helps provide an equitable and welcoming environment for the queer and transgendered at the university. But some queer groups on campus fear that this support can also lead to the commodification of pro-queer sentiments, which can detract from the original message of Pride.
Pride was originally a grassroots movement by the queer community, for the queer community. However, Pride has now become an opportunity for non-queer organizations to present themselves as equitable and sexually diverse.
In the past, UTSU has provided funding for the Pride Committee and shown their solidarity with the LGBTQ population by marching with UT Pride. This year however, UTSU has not provided any funding to UT Pride because the student union has its own contingent in the parade. UTSU will no longer march with the Pride Committee, and has asked that the Committee join UTSU’s contingent instead of the other way around.
It is obvious that Pride Week is no longer exclusively a Queer movement. It appears that though the group is committed to equity, UTSU is drafting members of the queer community to show how equitable UTSU is, rather than allying with the queer community itself. A subtle difference, but an important one nonetheless.
This year’s Pride theme is “Unstoppable,” and the Pride Committee is developing that theme using a marching band motif. This connotes that the rhythm and pace of the Pride movement should be governed by members of the queer community at U of T. Only the queer community has the right to be in charge of their political message, and while it is commendable that other “heterosexual” groups support queer and trans groups, the key word should be support, not take-over.
It is important that the queer community retain control of its message because often times the community at large is not aware of the issues facing these groups or individuals. Recent successes such as the legalization of gay marriage and the official recognition of q@SMC (Queer at St. Michael’s College) by the Catholic college’s student union, have led to a misconception that there is no longer any need for activism on behalf of the queer and transgendered community.
But important issues such as gender-neutral washrooms for transgendered students still need to be addressed at U of T. The important thing to remember is that the queer community needs to address these issues, and the rest of us need to support them by being their allies, not co-opting them into our agendas.
