By Jean-Claude Lafond

I know many of you are not going to like me either way. Many from the Gay community do not like my position and opinion of the Truckers Convoy and, yet, very few from the Truckers Convoy would have a problem with me talking about Pride Month. Frankly, the Gay community has been divided regarding COVID-19 mandates and many, myself included, from the LGBTQ+ community supported the Truckers Convoy…. but you will never get that info from any mainstream news source. Rarely would you see the tabloid news agencies (CBC, CTV, City TV, Global etc) convey an opinion from a person in the LGBTQ+ community in support of the Truckers Convoy, yet many did, like myself. We would never be allowed to express that on national television. Also, many from the Truckers Convoy didn’t care that I was gay. Frankly, I found that the people from the Truckers Convoy were more interested in hearing my story, and with genuine interest. Recently I wrote a small post at work regarding Pride month, thanking my company for recognizing Pride month, even though I no longer attend Pride Toronto. It has become too commercial, too weirdly woke, and very exclusive. This grassroots organization has been infiltrated by idiots and ruined the fun.

Most Canadians do not understand the reason why Pride Toronto has a parade. To understand the similarities between the Truckers Convoy and Pride Toronto, I need to go back in history and tell the story of why we have a Pride March here in Toronto.

I have been covering Pride Toronto here in Canada since late 1987 as a young photographer, hiding my homosexuality because I was scared of the repercussions. What most Canadians do not know is that the Pride March started from violent moments in our Canadian History. On February 9, 1981, in the city of Toronto, the police raided the gay bathhouses, arrested many men, and charged a lot of gay men who were operating the bathhouses. But it goes further than that. Many media outlets at the time reported in the newspapers, and on television and radio, all the names of the gay men who were caught at the bathhouses. They were shamed and ridiculed by most of the media and also by many of our politicians who participated in the rhetoric. Many of these gay men, and lesbians as well, lost their jobs because of it. They lost their homes, their families, and many were kicked out of their apartments. They experienced constant harassment by the police along with extreme prejudice from other Canadians. It was relentless.

Sound familiar? After this ill-treatment — a violation of Human Rights, the gays and lesbians for the first time got together. If you saw the first poster, “Enough is Enough,” these Canadians were now fighting back, with 3000 strong marching down to 52 Division, with the slogan “Gay Rights Count.” About 500 of them remained after the march, many causing damage to stores and cars of people who had shown serious prejudice. The protest continued down Yonge Street with the police violently beating them but the gay men fought back and the scene became violent and bloody. This type of treatment of members of the LGBTQ+ community went on for almost a year and then CHUM FM finally started to sympathize with us. When the police got really violent towards community members, they finally criticized the police on the air, calling them pigs, and then the Globe & Mail spoke out and said they felt someone’s sexual activities should remain in the bedroom, and should not be printed in the public domain. Enough is Enough.

The violence continued and then certain politicians also started to speak out, risking their political careers in criticizing prejudice against the community. Dr. Rev. Brent Hawkes went on a hunger strike, demanding the rights of gays be addressed including the prejudice of employers, banks, police, hospitals, and businesses. His hunger strike was met with arrogance from the media. One Toronto Star reporter strongly implied that he should starve to death.

Finally, the first Gay Pride March occurred in March 1982, where Margaret Atwood and Dr. Rev. Brent Hawkes spoke. There were thousands and thousands of Canadians, including some media outlets, criticizing and speaking out against the violence and the hateful, degenerate language from Police, certain politicians, certain media, institutions, and businesses. Of course, Pride Toronto has changed from the cold month of March 1982 to June, probably because you can’t wear a bikini or speedo in March.

So the original Pride Toronto March was a violent occurrence in Canadian History; a time when our rights were being violated and we were frightened to be ourselves. Thankfully today, there has been so much forgiveness and reconciliation. Though the parade is more commercialized, there are laws now, protecting us from such violent prejudice. The laws also gave us some ammunition to fight back in the courtroom.

Now, let’s make the comparison to the Truckers Convoy, and protestors against COVID-19 mandates and forced vaccination. What has happened to Canadians today for not taking a vaccine, is pretty much the same treatment that we experienced because we were gay. Think about it — the violent treatment from police, banned from entering businesses, fired from your job, kicked out of your home, segregated and treated like a disease, spurred on by hateful language in the media and by politicians. People who supported the Truckers Convoy financially had their names and locations published on Google Maps. They were shamed for showing their support. The banks froze their accounts and Canadian politicians arrogantly went public to defame the character of those Canadians, shaming them with their falsehoods and lies. Its no wonder why these Canadians are protesting and shouting through the streets for their freedoms — freedoms that have been taken away from them, much in the same fashion as was done to the Gay community in its time.

One thing for sure, how ignorant are our politicians as to forget our recent history of prejudice? I am glad for all the gays and lesbians who fought for our freedoms, and now the LGBTQ+ community is a national celebration of expressions for the full month of June. I am proud to say that I am no longer afraid to be myself. When you see police, politicians, businesses, media and community members publicly ostracizing a certain segment of the population and sowing division, it is a true sign of prejudice and intolerance and should never be part of our Canadian culture because we are better than that. My message to all politicians and career journalists is this: you do not speak on my behalf, and stop using the LGBTQ+ community as a pink shield for your virtue signalling. Stop using our community as a weapon in order to push the same type of prejudice against other Canadians. Enough is Enough.