Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders has acceded to demands from the local chapter of Black Lives Matter and agreed that the force will not participate in this year’s gay pride parade.
In his explanation, Saunders referred to divisions within the LGBTQ organizers of the multi-million dollar event.
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“We understand the LGBTQ communities are divided,” he said in a statement. “To enable those differences to be addressed, I have decided the Toronto Police Service will not participate, this year, in the Pride parade.
Those divisions center on objections from Toronto’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists who want to minimize the presence of those they seem to hate so much….law enforcement.
Last year’s parade made more news than usual after BLM protested the presence of police and temporarily halted the event. It only resumed after the executive director of “Pride Toronto,” Matthieu Chantelois, agreed to BLM demands that included a future ban on police floats.