Pride And Prejudice

Toronto's annual Pride parade was this weekend, and it made news for a few reasons.  One was that it was the first one attended by a sitting Prime Minister.  Which brings up:

Things The Teenage Me Would Never Have Believed About Life In The Future, #33

The Prime Minister went to a pride parade, wearing a pink shirt, and someone took this photo of him, and it didn't end his career.

                                 

Truth is, it will probably help his career; in addition to standing up for tolerance, you know that some political opponent is going to try to score points with the homophobes by bringing this up in the future, with disastrous results for themselves.

But the other big story was that Toronto's chapter of Black Lives Matter (BLM) held up the parade with a protest.  They had a variety of demands, many of which were uncontroversial measures to help LGBT people of colour, but the most talked-about is that the police be excluded from future Pride parades. Oh, speaking of which:

Things The Teenage Me Would Never Have Believed About Life In The Future, #33.5

It's just assumed that police forces have floats in Pride parades.

                                 

Anyway, this protest took many of us by surprise.  For one thing, many people were displeased with the idea of excluding someone from an event that's built around inclusion. But the other is that it seems as though two oppressed minorities are fighting each other.

Though it's sad to see that, I can understand the dynamics behind it.  We may think of Gay Rights as the new kid on the activist block, but it's actually been wildly successful, and in many ways it's passed other causes in mainstream acceptance.  Look at it this way: which is going to cause a scared white suburbanite cross to the other side of the street faster: a black man, or a gay man.  I'm kidding of course: the suburbanite wouldn't be walking down the street.  But my point is, it's not too surprising that those fighting racism might see the Pride parade as part of an establishment they aren't part of, rather than a fellow campaigner for rights.

I may understand how the thinking happens here, but I really disagree with it: Normally I've supported Black Lives Matter.  I do think police have made mistakes.  But there seems to be a big philosophical difference between criticizing police and demonizing them.  Or to put it another way, disliking some of their actions does not mean disliking them. It's particularly unfortunate because the police participation in Pride is an example of them trying to reach out and be part of the community, (with a community they once antagonized) which is the sort of attitude that should be encouraged.

That's why this seems like a watershed moment.  There are a lot of progressive-minded people like myself who were on board with BLM are now looking for the exits.  It's unfortunate because they still have a lot to accomplish, so I hope the grassroots ask whether this is really the direction they want to go.