"do it on your own dime." ok!!

in some parts of the world, queer communities are making strides in expressing not only their pride but their right to exist and live. like in romania where 200 people marched in a pride parade after 100 homophobic protesters held a rally condemning gays.

homosexuality has only been decriminalized in romania since 2000. i'm guessing that this pride parade isn't getting state or municipal funding: 80% of romania is part of the roman orthodox church, which is openly hostile to homosexuals.

in 2007, anti-homosexual protesters were arrested/tear gassed/detained in bucharest after trying to break down the protective barrier around the pride march and violently end its progression.

here in canada, where we all love to talk about how fucking progressive we are, the federal government has decided to axe it's funding of the toronto pride parade under the pretense that it wants to spread the wealth to smaller communities across the country. highlighting their stupidity, the government mentioned that luminato and the agricultural fair would be getting financial boosts this year..... so much for spreading the wealth to smaller communities across the country.

i'm all for spreading some of the toronto wealth to small communities who want to put together pride events, but that is just so obviously not what is going on here.

alphonse de valk wrote on the website catholic insight that he prayed this would be "the beginning of the end for gay pride days' subsidies" because the events are "vulgar and obscene annual propaganda" run by homosexual bullies who don't understand "culture or democracy."(no, for reals, they actually wrote that.)

apparently the geniuses at catholic insight don't believe that pride is good for tourism at all, except for the occasional influx of dollars to "gay bars and porn establishments" but these "are not exactly businesses that benefit the economic and cultural growth of society."

i know that if i'm in town for a pride parade, i immediately seek out the gay bars and the porn establishments--even before i check into my hotel.

that's besides the point. toronto can still benefit economically from a pride parade that isn't funded federally. people who come to celebrate pride here don't just come for the corporate parade. they come for the dyke march, for the concerts and shows, for the bars, for the city itself. when you live in a small town, coming to toronto is about more than just watching bodies painted with corporate logos strut down church street.

so it sucks to have pride funding cut, it really does, but it isn't the end of the world and prideTO needs a bit of shaking up right now anyways. since the board of prideTO voted yesterday to ban the group 'queers against israeli apartheid', a lot of questions are being raised about the organization becoming a bit too dependant on outside(and conservative) forces.