Toronto Pride votes 'no' on allowing police to march in 2019 parade

In a very close vote, Toronto Pride has decided against allowing police from participating in the upcoming Pride Parade.

The vote took place Tuesday evening at Ryerson University and members voted 163 to 161 against having uniformed officers march in the annual event. Whether the results are binding isn’t clear.

See also

• Toronto named one of the world's best places to celebrate Pride
• Toronto Police officially withdraw request to march in 2018 Pride Parade
• Pride asks Toronto Police to withdraw application to march in parade

I might be the lone #PrideTO board member that is grateful for this vote but a win is a win is a win #NoPrideinPolice

— Akio Maroon (@AkioMaroon) January 23, 2019

This news comes amidst a rocky relationship between Toronto Pride and local police, which resulted in officers being banned from marching in the annual event the last two years.

In 2017, Pride Toronto announced it would be banning uniformed police officers from the parade due to conflicts with activists with the local chapter of Black Lives Matter.

Then in April of 2018, the Toronto Police were asked to withdraw their application to march in the 2018 parade after event organizers said the presence of uniformed officers would make members of the LGBT2Q+ community feel unsafe.

However, this past fall, police were granted permission to march in the 2019 Pride parade, further increasing tensions between the two groups.

Once again, Pride Toronto members voted to affirm their already-made decision to affirm the organizations already-made acceptance of BLMTO’s demand for no police in pride. Can we put this discussion to rest and enjoy our police-free Pride already. #prideTO #twilightzone

— Rodney Diverlus (@rodneydiverlus) January 23, 2019