In a full turnaround, Pride Toronto, which began as a plea for tolerance, is now a platform for hateful extremists

When Toronto's Pride festival was in its infancy, I was there attending and usually try to make the festival. I went to Jarvis Collegiate, around the corner from the Church Street 'Gay Ghetto,' and as high school kids, our hangouts were along Church where we mingled with the gay proprietors, staff and customers of local establishments and everyone got along great.

Pride started as a a reaction to police raids on Toronto bathhouses and a call for understanding and tolerance, but to be honest, I was fairly oblivious to the politics back then. I was interested in supporting the gay community, but there was also some self-interest. When Pride started out, it was small, friendly, and the bars and restaurants along the strip were anxious to promote the event, so they would sell beer at really cheap prices. A win-win.

Pride has been no stranger to controversy from its outset. At one point, a debate occurred as to whether the pedophile group the North American Man-Boy Love Association should be banned from Pride. Eventually that group was banned from Pride as their participation became too discreditting for the growing gay rights movement. However, as the gay rights movement grew, so did Pride, and radical extremists saw an opportunity to advance their agendas through it.

It's a common radical activist tactic, to parasitically attach itself to an organization, and then eventually try to control it and steer it in a direction completely different than its original purpose. That is how the odious anti-semitic group "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid" became such a force in Pride. For the overwhelming majority of North American gay (or straight) people, middle east politics is no more relevant than Mongolian politics, If anything, the gay community mostly sympathizes and empathizes with Israel, which is one of the most tolerant countries in the world insofar as gay rights are concerned and is home to one of the world's top gay tourist destinations in Tel Aviv, which has its own huge annual Pride festival.

But radical neo-Marxist extremists who despise Israel and western capitalist culture in general infiltrated Pride and pushed the antisemitc agenda. The result almost derailed Toronto's Pride festival, when sponsors started withdrawing support and the City of Toronto threatened to withhold funds so as not to have any association with the anti-Israel fanatics.

The same type of extremists have now gained control of Toronto's Pride through the fanatical Black Lives Matter group. Racial equality and the elimination of racism are important goals. Those goals are not what Black Lives Matter stands for. It's an extremist, racist, anti-western organization which exploits the stupidity of virtue-signalling "social justice warriors," who are afraid to be seen as opposing what they mistakenly believe to be a group that strives for equality and tolerance.

Much has changed since Toronto's Pride festival began in 1981. Police are now supportive of and eager participants in Toronto's Pride festival and have been for the last two decades. That will now change, thanks to the Black Lives Matter extremists. Pride has capitulated to Black Lives Matters' demand to exclude Toronto Police entirely from Pride. Well, not entirely. They still expect Toronto Police to provide free security to the festival and parade.

It's standard Marxist inanity: "We hate you, you're an oppressor. Oh, and give us free stuff that we've done nothing to deserve."

The City of Toronto should withdraw all support from Pride until the despicable decision to exclude police from the festival is reversed. But perhaps, better still, the City should start an alternative Gay festival that is the symbol of inclusiveness and tolerance that Pride was meant to be, and leave the fanatics and hatemongers who dominate Toronto's Pride organization to have a tiny, masturbatory gathering of their own, which they can pay for with their own resources.