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'Huge parade in Toronto'
| Rick Fielding | 28 Jun 99 - 12:27 AM | |
| katlaughing | 28 Jun 99 - 12:29 AM | |
| Rick Fielding | 28 Jun 99 - 12:29 AM | |
| Sheye | 28 Jun 99 - 10:13 AM | |
| Rick Fielding | 28 Jun 99 - 03:22 PM | |
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'Huge parade in Toronto'
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Subject: 'Huge Pride parade in Toronto' From: Rick Fielding Date: 28 Jun 99 - 12:27 AM I perhaps should have found the "gay and lesbian" thread for this, but it was getting unwieldy. I just wanted to say that watching (on the TV news) almost a hundred thousand folks laughing, dancing and having a ball this weekend evoked some very mixed memories. I can remember in the late sixties and early seventies on Halloween when gays would get dressed to the nines and walk from one bar to another (about 6 blocks) while enduring catcalls and being pelted with eggs. Thousands of high school kids looked forward to this almost as a rite of passage. I remember a grocery store owner gleefully telling a news-guy that all the stores stalked up on eggs for the festivities that night. After doing their spitting, tripping and egg tossing, the ones who were old enough to drink would come into the bars on yonge street - including the folk bar 'Steels Tavern' where I first started playing. Although I thought they were drunken morons, I probably never realised how de-humanizing it would have been for their victims. It just wasn't something I ever thought about - even though I sung my Phil Ochs and Seeger songs and felt that with music I was helping fight injustice. That seems so long ago.
Well, in 1999 in Toronto, gays and lesbians don't have to paste smiles on their faces while running a gauntlet. They have their music, their elected politicians(for those that believe in such stuff) and ALL the TV stations are treating the parade in a very positive way. My God, even the Mayor (who's a right winger) was in the parade squirting water at people, and the fundamentalist preachers (we've got a few) were laying low, at least for the weekend. I know that they still have legal hurdles to overcome, but I was struck by how happy everyone seemed.
I don't want to get into politics, it's just nice to see that a chunk of folks CAN change their attitudes over the years. |
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Subject: RE: 'Huge parade in Toronto' From: katlaughing Date: 28 Jun 99 - 12:29 AM Nice message, Rick, thanks! And, I am glad you started a new thread for it. kat |
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Subject: RE: 'Huge parade in Toronto' From: Rick Fielding Date: 28 Jun 99 - 12:29 AM sorry, the word "pride" accidently got erased from the thread title. |
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Subject: RE: 'Huge parade in Toronto' From: Sheye Date: 28 Jun 99 - 10:13 AM Caught a bit of it on the news last night, Rick. Looked like a great day!! Sheye |
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Subject: RE: 'Huge parade in Toronto' From: Rick Fielding Date: 28 Jun 99 - 03:22 PM I suspect the largest hangover Toronto has ever experienced is going on right now! |
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