0:11  
I'm Trevor Green for RSJ Radio. Those are protesters outside the offices of pride Toronto on Berkeley Street. The organization is in charge of a city's Pride Parade, which attracts over a million people every summer to Canada's largest city. The protesters are members of queers crash to beat an activist organization. They are one of many groups and individuals who are voicing their concerns about Toronto's police being allowed to march in uniform at next year's Pride celebration.

0:50  
At our board Pride Toronto's Board of Directors took the decision that we would permit the police to contribute to participate in our parade.

1:03  
That's Olivia Newmar, the executive director of Pride Toronto. She spoke at a press conference on October 16, appearing with Mayor john Tory and the Toronto chief of police Mark Saunders. One member of the community who has been angered over Pride Toronto's decision is 34 year old academic and activist Anthony Oliveira. He has his PhD from the University of Toronto in English literature. I spoke to him about his views on Pride Toronto's decision,

1:40  
I think that a mistake is being made and it is one that the police are exploiting. Which is to read Pride Toronto as somehow the spokesperson for Toronto's queer community. That what Pride says goes and if pride rubber stamps the Toronto Police, or whatever other causes marching its parade that therefore the Toronto Community of queer people approves of those causes.

2:06  
Oliveira says he doesn't want police in uniform at the parade. Even if you're a gay or lesbian cop, he says you should come in your civilian clothes. More than anything, though he's upset over what he calls the lack of consultation between Pride Toronto and the queer community.

2:23  
I would suggest that they come in their street clothes, I would suggest that showing up in the uniform of something that is oppressing a community whether or not you experience some kind of overlap with that community is not appropriate. I think that what's important to notice about the way this this return of the police to the Pride Parade has happened is there has been no community consults. There has been no apology. Pride is supposed to have meetings with its public, it has not done that this has happened in-camera. This has been a black box decision to let the police back in.

3:01  
James Dubro is a gay crime writer living in Toronto and he has been following the story of pride Toronto's recent decision. He said the lack of consultation has been a problem.

3:13  
Part of the community concern is that they haven't, a lot of the community organizations felt they really weren't consulted about whatever deal was made. And I think what Barb McLean and and the liaison officer both open lesbians met with some of these groups, but they didn't actually discuss details of this, of this new rule. And they thought just meeting was enough as police officers, and I think the organization didn't see it that way.

3:43  
Olivia Newmar, the executive director of Pride doesn't deny the fact that there are issues with Toronto Police, but she says pride Ontario is just trying to find solutions.

3:54  
There have been a lot of issues with the way in which the police service work with LGBTQ+2 communities to realize our safety. We have to understand unless we start sitting around the table and talking about what these issues are together, we are not gonna find solutions to them and it's all of our jobs to try to find solutions to these problems.

4:18  
The parade isn't until next summer. And as tensions mount between pride Toronto and the queer community, it's clear that this issue is far from over. For RSJ Radio, I'm Trevor Green.