The past couple of years we've talked about the disruptions and hostile takeover of the Toronto Pride events by BLM:
https://canadianpoliticalevents.createaforum.com/manitoba-politics/toronto-pride-2018-version/msg27294/#msg27294Something similar happened in Edmonton last year-- the Pride parade was halted by protestors-of-color who had a number of demands, particularly relating to the presence of police and military people in uniform.
Last week members of the two groups ("Shades of Colour" and "RaricaNow") that disrupted last year's parade met with the Edmonton Pride Festival Society to present more demands.
(their demands are listed in this letter to EPFS.)And the EPFS has responded by
deciding to shut the whole thing down.
The leader of Shades Of Colour says that...“We were advocating to make changes, to make positive changes in the event. We don’t want this event to be cancelled. We care about Pride, otherwise we wouldn’t be putting in these efforts,” said Dave.
(...)
A member of the Pride society, who spoke to CTV Edmonton anonymously on Thursday morning out of fear of retaliation, says the demands became too much.
“I was heartbroken that we had reached this point because there was a sense of failure,” the member said.
“I just think the demands showed a lack of understanding or a huge desire for the festival society to be something it's not.”
Dave says the group had many discussions with Pride organizers since August and isn’t sure why the board believes it’s necessary to nix the celebration, which began in 1983. He said his group’s demands were negotiable.
“We used the language of demands because this feels like a crisis for our communities. People are feeling suicidal over Pride, people are getting deported. This is a crisis for queer and trans racialized people.”
Reading over the list of demands, it's clear that this is more than just "positive changes". First and foremost, it's a shakedown, as the two groups were demanding Edmonton Pride Society give them $20,000 each, in addition to funding for a variety of QTBIPOC events and honorariums for QTBIPOC educators and performers.
(QTBIPOC? That's the latest acronym! It's Queer or Trans Black or Indigenous People of Color. I think basically it means everybody in LGBT who isn't white.)
Aside from money, they are essentially demanding that the entire festival be centered around QTBIPOC and trans people. For everybody else, you might be les/bi/gay, but if you're not trans or QTBIPOC you can sit at the back with the rest of the white cis-scum.
I've never been to one of these things, and never will, but I'm actually kind of glad that they decided to just pull the plug on it.
-k