The Toronto Pride parade is always an amazing spectacle of joy and defiance, and yesterday's was no exception.
And although the controversial Black Lives Matter-Toronto group did its best to grab the headlines.
The star of the show was once again Justin Trudeau.
And when I watched him go by with his family, I was struck not only by his warm friendly manner, but also by his courage.
For it takes guts to walk down a street lined with at least half a million people, and all kinds of apartment buildings, in an age of terrorism.
And in a country where a small but twisted group of mostly dirty old men would clearly like to kill him.
For you do have to be twisted to hate a man like this one...
But if Trudeau's decency and courage impressed me, I was thoroughly disgusted by the cowardice and the blatant bigotry of Andrew Scheer.
For not only did Scheer not turn up at any Pride Month event, he failed to issue even the smallest statement to the more than a million LGBT Canadians.
No Con did.
Which only reinforces what a sinister religious fanatic Scheer is, and what a bigot party he leads...
And how every decision he makes is informed first and foremost by his religious extremism. Including this one.
Which has nothing to do with human rights, or labour standards. And everything to do with the way China regulates the activities of Christian missionaries.
And the good news?
The new generation will never support a Republican-style bigot.
Trudeau and his Liberals represent the future, while Scheer represents the past.
And we will use his religious extremism to send him back to the hell where he belongs...
23 comments:
I hope you are right Simon. No matter how goofy and weak Scheer seems, we MUST take him serious and celebrate when he is defeated by another Liberal Majority.
At least half a million people huh? Citation needed. Trudeau and a boy in a little pink tutu...
You are aware that homosexuality isn't all rainbows and glitter right Simon?
-MC
The regressive left forced gay cops back into the closet.
Hey MC,
Were you my golf partner yesterday? I played a charity tournament. In real life, if that was you, you're just as I imagine Kellie Leitch's husband. Except Kellie doesn't have a husband. But that sour, pessimistic demeanour combined with your secretive nature, lack of willingness to share anything about yourself, that fits. That plus the lack of empathy for anyone else.
Because of that incredible lightning storm we were in the clubhouse unexpectedly. We had about an hour to chat with other people we'd never met. The first comment at our table had to do with the Pride, the Gay Pride, Parade, because that's what we call it when we're all over 60, very corporate, very established, MB's, BMW 7 series, very pillar of the community, most of us church goers. All of us were athletes at one time in our lives, some better than others. Like that guy at the the next table with the professional championship ring. You know the crowd, even if you weren't there, right MC?
"The storm is really going to mess up the Gay Pride".
"Nah, they'll march. My daughter is there with her wife."
"Oh yeah!
"I wish my son was still alive. He was a fantastic young man, top student, accomplished but sadly couldn't accept himself as gay. He committed suicide a few years ago. My father, his grandfather was more supportive and knew more about his sexuality than me. I only wish he was here today."
"I don't know if you knew this but Mr. Pro Athlete over there lost his son in similar circumstances."
"My daughter's wife's family still doesn't accept her. They haven't spoken since the wedding". "Sad. Really sad."
"Back in the 70's my friend, who was only 20, died in his sleep. His parents said. I attended the funeral. It wasn't until decades later his gay lover wrote publicly revealing the true nature of my friend's death, by his own hand. He couldn't accept himself as gay and neither could his parents."
The events that led to the Gay Pride parade were mostly about a world of pain. Enormous personal suffering. Injustice.
And you sat there silently. You didn't say a word. You didn't acknowledge any of it and couldn't find any inspiration in the bottom of your beer glass, as hard as you stared there. You didn't have the guts to say what you wanted, but we could tell. You didn't even shake the hand of the man who had lost his son, let alone give him a hug and express condolence for the loss of a child. So there you were, one in four. That's pretty close to the representation of your type of attitudes in society. You're not going to convince anyone of your point of view.
And you probably felt comfort listening to Newstalk 1010 on the way home. No the crowd wasn't reported over half a million on that channel. No, they didn't report that their "alternate" event that welcomed cops in uniform was a flop. Bell Media. They did mention a few BLM folks who drifted into the parade. Did it feel good knowing that your dislike for Black Lives Matter is shared by others? Yeah, maybe that pest Desmond Cole could use a little more of your special style of harassment. After all he's only been stopped by cops about 50 times and never with just cause.
For you there's always a reason to be miserable.
And if you haven't been told yet, allow me. Fuck off.
P2p
Hi anon...Polls show most Canadians don't know anything about Andrew Scheer, which is why I believe it's important to educate them. I realize many people aren't into politics at this time, but I think the sooner we start stripping away his mask the better...
Hi MC....The Pride Parade in Toronto has attracted more than a million people in the past, so if anything I am erring on the side of caution. But all I know is that I had to walk for about eight blocks before I could find a place where the crowd was less than fifteen people deep on both sides of the street. And whatever the exact numbers it is without a doubt the biggest parade in Canada. But what disturbs me more is you trying to make something ugly out of that cute picture of Trudeau and that little GIRL (Get some glasses fool) And as for your last line what are you trying to say? Being gay is no different from being straight, with all its ups and downs. Except that gays have to put up with the bigotry of Cons like you. But as for me, my life couldn't be happier, can you say the same thing?
Hi anon... Well that would be news to some of my friends. The black supremacists from BLMTO did get them banned from wearing their uniforms in the parade. But that's all, and trust me that will be changed next year....
Hi P2p....thanks for your very powerful comment. The Pride Parade means different things for different people. For me it's both a time to recharge our batteries for the battles ahead, and a chance to celebrate all our victories. For it may have taken a long time, but we now have the bigots on the run...
Well P2p I havn't been secretive about my identity at all. I've mentioned many times I'm an English Quebecer born and lives in Montreal. I'm a millennial. I have a great paying job. I pay my taxes and contribute. I just think homosexuality in general isn't good for society. I really could care less what people do behind closed doors. I just think degeneracy shouldn't be celebrated.
-MC
Well said P2p. MC is a pathetic excuse of a human being who was once tolerable but is now just spewing bile at anything Simon writes.
Time to stick a fork in this one Simon, it's done.
JD
Hi MC...I knew you were a low life Con. I knew you got your news from The Rebel so you weren't too bright. But you told me you had a drinking problem so I felt sorry for you. But not any longer. Now that I know you're a disgusting homophobe I will not have you contaminating this site, and you are banned for life...
Hi JD...it seems your wish is my command. MC has revealed his inner ugliness and will not be back again...
I have been thinkingaboot what to say about the 150. It has not jelled yet but Canada is PET's country, not John A Macdonald's. He took the goverment out of the bedrooms and opened the country as a home for the world. As a result Canada walks free, not hiding in the closet at the first sign of trouble.
MC you sound like the very worst of anglo Montrealers. Whinge and cry racism when the PQ hates on the english and nowhere to be found when others face worse discrimination.
Simon, I knew your patience was wearing thin with MC and I to felt sorry for him due to his "drinking" problem. However, as his comments grew increasingly crude and deluded, my pity soon turned to disgust and we know we're not alone on this.
If it's the booze then seek help MC. If not, then you are just a miserable person who derives pleasure from hurting others and certainly don't deserve a voice on Simon's blog let alone in society.
JD
Simon,
Sorry about the harsh language regarding MC.
The Pride Parade, in the beginning, was about matters of life and death, protesting injustice and advocacy for inclusion in society. In the early years it wasn't a very big affair, and if I recall correctly, wasn't much more than a neighbourhood or block party.
Regarding MC's final comment: He used the word degeneracy. It seems clear now that his purpose was to needle you, upset the conversation, distract, deny, and troll your community here. Maybe it wasn't crystal clear to us or MC until he finally revealed his motivation but in the 1970's he would have been loading up with tomatoes and eggs to throw at the queens as they would enter the St. Charles Tavern on Halloween. (See: https://vimeo.com/96090942 ) He can't respond now so perhaps I shouldn't speculate. However, he did say degenerates should not be encouraged. What does that mean? It could be that the Pride Parade is evidence of a decline in civilization. Society may have lost moral qualities because some members were showing how perverse, corrupt, immoral, impure, debased, debauched and decadent they could be in public.
The relationship with the police community is problematic. If you watch the short video you will see that the police could arrest crossdressers and they did in the 1970's. Homosexuality had been illegal until PET removed it from the criminal code in 1967. The gay community asked police for protection from the crowds on Halloween. They were asking for help from the same police force that was harassing the gay community the other 364 days of the year. This harassment culminated with the Bath House Raids in 1981, the largest mass arrest of people since the October Crisis. (Incidentally, surpassed in 2010 during the G20 summit by the same Toronto Police and other police forces coordinated by the RCMP. That police action remains the biggest violation of human rights in Canadian history.)
Parliament's response to the plight of the homosexual community was the 1985 report "Equality for All". It acknowledged community lived with violence, oppression, harassment and hate.
MC claims to be a millennial. Maybe he doesn't know about conservative PM John Diefenbaker's 1960 Canadian Bill of Human Rights. Maybe he doesn't how Canada lead the world in the expansion of human rights through the drafting of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. If he's looking for a more "ideal" traditional society he's going to have to go back more than 70 years and to some other country for a less degenerate example.
The reason bills of rights specify prohibited grounds of discrimination is because the discrimination exists. MC you describe yourself in the manner many conservatives do, as a taxpayer, as though citizenship is a secondary factor, not the most fundamental aspect of society.
And finally, Simon, you're right, Mayor John Tory who thought he could triangulate and slide on his promise to end police carding as a method of oppressing the Black community will ultimately have to find a way to resolve this matter. He's got to use the authority of his office to change the culture and practices of the Toronto Police Force. It is not acceptable for the police to continue to violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
p2p
Good news about MacDonald. Last year it was announced that he will be replaced on the CAD $20 by Viola Desmond, an artist, businesswoman and civil rights activist -- and the first black woman ever to be featured on Canadian currency. Who was PM when this was announced? Why, Justin Trudeau of course.
The cons complained bigly about the Liberals "erasing 'our' heritage," but were clearly blind to the fact that Canada's heritage belongs to Viola and all Canadians of color too. So their constituents went over to Rebel's boards and Reddit, and made idiotic playground insult comments calling Justin a (rhymes with maggot) and the dog whistle "drama teacher" because Viola was an actress who opened a makeup company for black women. They Photoshopped his face into Tammy Faye Baker and made cruel suggestions that the decision to supplant MacDonald with Desmond was a "gift" to his "boyfriend" Obama.
But nevertheless... he persisted. Desmond will be on the $20, no matter how much the cons huff and puff and try to blow progress down.
Meanwhile, south of the 49th parallel, the first Citrus-American president has left the decision by Obama to replace the genocidal lunatic Andrew Jackson with the heroic Harriet Tubman on our $20 up in the air. Sometimes I feel like I'm looking at Wonderland through the looking glass from my vantage point of the USA. We had our chance at a Pierre in 1960... needless to say, it didn't go so well. America is Just Not Ready™ for a Trudeau, a Kennedy or an Obama. It never has been, and never will be.
Simon -- they ought to be informed of the most damaging blow to what little credibility anyone might think the dark horse Scheer might have: his links to Rebel Media and the maniac Ezra Levant. He seeks to be Canada's version of Steve Bannon by his closeness to Scheer's campaign (as you've mentioned, one of Rebel's producers is Scheer's campaign manager). His history at the mercifully defunct Sun Media could fill volumes. He's said horrible things about Muslims and horrible things about Romani people that, if you replaced "gypsy" with "Jew" it would sound like something straight out of Goebbels' mouth (and Ezra would be all up in arms about it). He's got a vendetta against the whole Trudeau family that's not limited only to Justin. He published an article insinuating that Maggie tried to seduce Trump, painted Sophie as an uncaring mother and the Liberals as tax wasters because she needed childcare services to mind the kids while she continued her activist work, even accused Justin of fooling around with a married woman because he was photographed givng her a friendly peck on the cheek at her wedding!
The man is an on-air toxic event, to paraphrase a line from the great writer Don DeLillo. His proximity to Scheer and the power of the media to influence hearts and minds shouldn't be underestimated. No doubt he sees the 2019 election as his "knockout blow" to Justin after being publicly humiliated at that now famous boxing match.
Scheer's own platform is bad enough, and sounds more like the toxic sociopathy and hatred coming from the US GOP. But his connections to Rebel make him all that much worse -- not much different from Trump's connections with Breitbart and Russia Today. If you can "judge a man by the company he keeps" then nobody with at least two functioning brain cells to put together ought to be casting their ballots for someone who gives any credence to the nasty wingnut Ezra Levant or any of the lackeys working for him.
The Progressive Conservatives died in 1993. The cons now are the "Rebel Alliance" -- but they're on the dark side with the Imperial Forces! They ALL need to be exposed in order for the Jedi to return in 2019, 2023, 2027, 2031... and for as many more sequels as he wants :)
hi p2p...you don't have to apologize for anything. MC turned out to be a degenerate bigot, and he has been banned from my blog forever...
hi anon...your comment was deleted because it stank of homophobia. Please take a bath or hang yourself as soon as possible. Thanks.
Of all "things not good for society..."...MC (and far too many others) chooses- the freedom to love and marry whomever one wishes, and, yes, celebrates that freedom each year while remembering those who were killed long before their time by hateful bullyism???
I mean, really, WTF?
I consider 'man's inhumanity to man' to be at, or near, the top of my 'societal problems' list.
MC? There is help for alcoholism. And, for hate. It most often comes from the same source....God. Is. Love.
Love the picture of the P.M. and those socks and the little kid. Welcome to Canada. How many world leaders can walk around like he does? We do live in a wonderful country. Thanks for sharing the picture! made my day.
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