“Pride” means so many things to me and brings back so many memories. I could tell you about my first Pride and what an absolutely incredible and empowering (gayifying!) experience it was. Or I could tell you about the circumstances that lead to my volunteering with Pride Toronto, or the evolution of my volunteer roles that lead to my election as Co-Chair of its Board. Or about the incredible experience of pulling together (and WINNING!) the bid to bring WorldPride 2014 to Toronto. Or about 2010, the year that almost brought down Pride as we know it. But I won’t.
What I will tell you about is the one memory that will always stand out for me as one of the core elements of what Pride is to me:
It was Pride 2004 and we were “Bursting with Fruit Flavours”. I was sitting in a tent on Church Street with a chatty young first-time volunteer named Andrea. We got along superbly and I soon learned that she had just come out to her parents. She very nervous because her Smalltown, Ontario mum, Lynn, was joining us as a volunteer – the first time either of them had been a Pride, muchless Pride in Toronto. When Lynn arrived at the tent, she seemed wide-eyed and harried, having walked from Wellesley station to Church & Wood. I watched her closely over the next two hours and could clearly see not only the nervous tension melt away but also the recognition of how important Pride was to the thousands of people who walked past our booth – and the dozens who excitedly came to say “hi” after Andrea giddily informed them that her mum was a Pride virgin. She loosened up, was having fun and, importantly, was connecting with a side of her daughter that had been a mystery earlier that very day. At the end of their shift, Lynn looked to Andrea with incredible warmth in her eyes and said “I love you, baby.”
In the years that have followed, I have experienced variations of this scene dozens of times and it has NEVER failed to give me goosebumps or elicit tears – or both. This is what Pride is to me: providing a safe space for people – young and old – to come out, celebrating the achievements of our communities and fighting homophobia at home and abroad.
This is my last year on the Pride Toronto Board and my seventh consecutive festival as a volunteer. Despite the wearing hardships that anyone involved in Pride 2010 has felt, I will always be a champion for Pride and will always fight for Pride with every fibre of my being. Being part of this organization and serving the community has been an honour – not one that I will soon forget.
- Mark Singh