Hanlan’s to Here: The Evolution of Pride in Toronto

Pride in Toronto

[00:00:00]

Lauren: the Leos are gonna be out there,

Alena: leaders are gonna be out there, man.

Speaker: If you have.

Lauren: Hi. . Hi.

Alena: Hi.

Lauren: I never know how to start

Alena: I know, right?

Lauren: Well, happy pride. Happy pride, month.

Alena: Happy pride. Month.

Lauren: Yeah. So today we wanted to jump on here and just talk a little bit about Pride, uh, a bit of a focus on pride in Toronto. I think, a lot of our listeners know about pride in the context of the US and [00:01:00] Stonewall. , And I think like we’re good about knowing, like, you know, pride started as a riot.

It’s always been surrounded by activism, resistance, and allyship and sticking up for. Our L-G-B-T-Q community. Mm-hmm. Um, but what I think people may be less familiar with is Toronto’s history with

Alena: Totally. And just to give listeners sort of a, an agenda for today, we’re gonna talk a bit about this Toronto history. Again, that is kind of, I think a hidden from a lot of us. And then we have some other Toronto events to highlight that might be a little more niche or a little compared to like the big pride celebrations

Lauren: the Off

Alena: exactly Version. Exactly. then, we also wanna talk a little and pride sort of more generally and as kind like a skill because I also don’t want us to put so much the pride we can that being there’s other ways to foster outside of just [00:02:00] this month and that those

Lauren: days.

Yeah. I mean pride, I think a lot of people think of the pride parade mm-hmm. When they think of pride and you know that that can be great for some people and is good visibility and all, and has all sorts of things wrapped up in it. But that’s not pride for everyone.

Exactly. I mean, we, we never even go,

No,

Sorry.

Anyway, , so the first pride in Toronto was actually at one of our kind of queer, landmark locations. And it was actually a picnic at Hanlon’s in the seventies.

Alena: God. Amazing,

Lauren: yeah. . So Pride in Toronto started as kind of this small scale activism with picnics and demonstrations on, on Toronto Island, uh, focusing on, queer liberal liberation,, protesting and,

you know, the societal discrimination that was taking place at the time. , And then it really start kind of ramped up and grew, , in the early 1980s, , when there were actually these raids on bathhouses in [00:03:00] Toronto.

So on February 5th, 1981. Police raided several gay clubs and bathhouses leading to the largest mass arrest in Canadian history at the time. Um, and so the outcry against these raids caused massive demonstrations, which basically energized the queer community, and transformed Toronto’s pride into a large political demonstration,, that became a yearly event.

So before it was more k kind of these casual things that were, were going on on Toronto Island. , And it actually wasn’t until 1990. 1991 that the Toronto City Council officially recognized, , pride and yeah. That’s not,

Alena: That’s not that far back in our history,

Lauren: No, it’s not. Yeah.

Alena: That’s cool because I mean, there’s parallels obviously, that we can draw to Stonewall.

was after this, but it, it takes, it’s often this big kind of

pushback from the oppression that galvanizes movements [00:04:00]

Lauren: Yeah, yeah.

, So today’s pride is basically a mix of celebrations, activism, unapologetic visibility, and often a major opportunity for a lot of our, , queer organizations to do their major fundraising. Um, I think of groups like Rainbow Railroad, the five 19, friends of Ruby, campfire, and so many more. So yeah.

Alena: Amazing. I had no idea that very sweet to

Lauren: Yes. And if Doug Ford comes for Hanlon’s, I’m.

We’re us, US queers are going to be, need to be at the front lines of that. Yes. Because lest we forget and what we just talked about, that is what pride is about. It is about standing up for our rights and our spaces and queer spaces are sacred, and that includes Lins.

Alena: I wonder if there’s a way to make historical, like a historical

Lauren: I don’t [00:05:00] know. I know we have some very smart listeners. , So let out, let us know.

Alena: I actually,

might. Okay. That’s amazing. I love that., And again, it’s also, it just reminds us like when you think of places stuff, there are other to celebrate

Lauren: just truly.

Alena: downtown during Pride

Lauren: Yeah, I think there’s a, a lot of people who, , when Pride is mentioned, they’re like, oh, that’s not really for me. It’s like, mm-hmm. You know, it’s just, it’s about partying and drinking and all of that. And yes, that is a part of it. And getting to express yourself and be visible and have those spaces is a pillar of the queer community and the only thing a lot of queer folks had for a long time.

But it’s not, it’s not the only thing now, um, which, which is great. I think you have some,

Alena: Yeah, I mean, I was just kind of doing some brainstorming [00:06:00] other events and even just other things in general Like, hey, you can lean into, if you’re a reader, like essays, more memoirs,

Lauren: Mm-hmm.

Alena: James Baldwin.

Uh, you can find organizations too and

Lauren: And yeah, volunteer

Alena: your time or donate your time if, if you can’t donate your money.

Lauren: there’s also, , so many events that happen kind of in the margins of quote unquote Toronto Pride. Totally. Um, , there’s sober events. There’s, , picnics. , I know Christy Pitts has a picnic every year.

Alena: You can look for ways in your own environment, whether workplace or your online ways to make increase visibility. your own writing, making art, put it out there in the world.

Like there’s other ways to

Lauren: Exactly. Yeah, I think my favorite thing about Pride is all the different parts of [00:07:00] it that we kind of drop into. , Dev and I have a tradition of doing the Pride and Remembrance run every year, , or going to, , different events that aren’t just kind of about the partying and getting together.

Alena: And there’s other social events too, I found. Um, there’s Cafe in the East End Cafe Zsu.

Lauren: Oh, I don’t know that cafe.

Alena: they

have, um, they have queer, it’s called the Queer East Social, and they do have one in June. It’s, um, it’s called Juneteenth with Pride.

It’s on June 19th. So it’s meant it centers black and trans experiences.

and again, it’s more about like conversation and discussion. a massive like dance might be overwhelming to some people as well. So yeah, more of like an Low key experience. Um, there’s East End. I saw East End Kids Pride east End queer arts market Um, pride Picnic is happening at Christie Pitts.

And Hanlin has their Les Beach too, I think happening first thing in June. [00:08:00] Um, so there’s lots of events that are like.

That are queer focused. Oh, and I also found apparently the Toronto of programming too. I found they have like a speed friending, which I thought was really

Lauren: You would find that,

Alena: Find that. Yeah, I found that. Um, a book club, a paint night, a cookie decorating thing in early June, so you can always look and see if your

Lauren: Amazing. Um, do you have any kind of traditions or like thing, what do, what do you look forward to for pride?

Alena: So I find I truly find the thought of pride a little

Lauren: So

Alena: because I’m also time with my her birthday

Lauren: Yes.

Alena: pride too. So I find it, like the thought of it is a little tiring ahead

Lauren: how many.

Alena: this? And then also do like enjoy doing all of these things

Lauren: I’m already sending you parties that I want to go to.

Alena: Yeah, exactly. So I’m like trying to sign up for some things and just commit to a few things, but like, [00:09:00] I do wanna open. Other than that, you know, just to be able to like, I like going to the green space. , I must admit. Uh, I used to find that overwhelming

to go

there because sometimes it’s just, the problem is I’m a noticer, I see everybody, and I don’t necessarily wanna see

Lauren: So.

Alena: So I’ve learned to, like last year we had a really like a, a certain

Lauren: Yes.

Alena: Um, and it was where people could come see us,

Lauren: Little off the path. Yeah,

Alena: off the path. Yeah. It was a little off the path, but enough that you could see people. But, um. What I found more overwhelming was like

Lauren: crowds, Mm-hmm.

Alena: but staying in one, staying put, being with people just happening to see other

Lauren: Yeah.

Yeah. . Um, well, yeah. So like I mentioned, , the Pride and Remembrance run has, has been a bit of an annual. [00:10:00] Uh, I love going to the trans march. Yes. March and the dyke march. Yeah. , And then I think it’s just a great opportunity to , catch up with friends.

Yeah. Because there’s kind of just, I feel like more energy and, um, folks who you might not see all the time and these kind of bigger groups mm-hmm. Happen because I, I don’t know, for me it’s, it’s an opportunity for, it’s like everyone and everyone. Come on in that, like inclusive nature. Um, yeah. Our, our group has usually had like a annual buddy’s night and, , yeah, that’s, that’s a highlight for me for sure.

As well as, uh, uh, steers,

Alena: steers and queers

Lauren: as, uh, yeah, as well as, , steers and queers. So, yeah.

Let’s,

Alena: let’s, uh, that reminded me. We have some listeners who specifically mentioned that buddy’s night,

Lauren: Oh, shall we, shall we? Yeah. So we put out a call for some of our listeners, uh, traditions. Is that how we did it?

Alena: And I think both Brad and Josh

Lauren: Yeah.

Alena: best gay buddies and [00:11:00] allies.

Lauren: Yeah, so we have, uh, buddies in bad times on the Saturday and or Sunday with all my queer and Ally friends. . . Someone mentioned the AIDS vigil at Barbara Hall every damn year. We can’t forget. We need the reminder buddies with you. My loves. Hey Nick.

, Oh, this listener wrote pride means reaching out to someone who’s still scared to make sure they aren’t alone. We love that. Right.

Um, also someone said First pride out at 41. How cool is that?

Alena: I know, and I did actually talk to that, , listener a it was just great to hear. I sort of probed, I was like, well, what are you gonna do? How are you feeling about it? , I congratulated them and asked what their plans are.

They said, going to try to get out to pride events. I’ve got social anxiety, but I’ve been friends And actually then they gave us a shout out to, to the [00:12:00] the support.

And they read, they said it forward. So that , and. Again, this notion of social anxiety, like I think it comes up a lot with a lot of people. Definitely because it is overwhelming and we put so

Lauren: weekend. Yes. So,

Alena: and we’ll get into a little bit later, but this notion kind of small wins of feeling joy, feeling pride, and kind of celebrating finding queer

Lauren: there You can, you can totally dip in and out and even, you know, I think a lot of people think, oh, we have to be attending these events. You can also volunteer at them. And I know sometimes, well, at least for me, if, if I have any kind of anxieties around things, if I have like a job. That, that helps me or, , bringing someone in on it and , be like, Hey, can like you check in on me?

Or like, oh, I’m just gonna dip out for a minute, or uh, um, all those types [00:13:00] of things. Yeah,

Alena: And even when it comes to the run, um, which you guys do every year.

Mm-hmm.

Even if you’re not a runner, you could go and walk the 5K and you’d meet so many people

Lauren: too. Also

the cheering squad is like really nice and, um, what I love about it, it’s Saturday mornings and it’s, it’s very family friendly.

There’s like people walking in strollers and like, it’s just, it’s great.

Alena: , Another listener said I literally never have worked the Friday.

I literally never have worked the Friday Pride. I argue we should always get it resistance. If people get religious

Lauren: Absolutely. And I would say also the following Monday, but thankfully, usually it’s around Canada Day, so yeah. Good point.

Alena: point.

Lauren: Um.

Alena: and I think that’s all got?

Lauren: Yeah. So yeah, lots of, lots of good stuff in there.

Alena: Okay. So I was also thinking about the In terms of. Like, when I think about, for example, my [00:14:00] family, are part of our currency it. That’s how connect. we find common ground as you’re complaining about things.

But I learned this was actually really experience gratitude. And so I actively worked towards experiencing more gratitude how to feel it, because it’s one of those things that.

As,

our, and similar to joy and pride, there is a natural towards feeling there’s also a socializing to notice those we don’t notice them. And then there’s, so that kind of, it’s in that way it’s kind of a skill, like it’s something you can foster. And so that made me this pride and what people can do, especially feeling joy, feeling pride, Truly, probably anyone come out has struggled feeling

Lauren: Mm-hmm. after [00:15:00]

Alena: shame about you know, whether that was internalized or just like explicitly forced upon So it had me thinking about that and some foster and gratitude. Yeah, so one is recognizing when is pride which sounds so simple, but really it’s a simple, it is a to, to a certain degree, as simple recognizing when there’s something in your environment. Or something that you’ve done that you can actually like, oh, I can

Lauren: this.

Yeah.

Alena: Or, this is a moment of joy and actually just recognize because we’re so trained, either socially, but also DNA the human bad threats and things. So we [00:16:00] have to train ourselves to be like, Hey, this is, I can feel And the second part of that is. Letting yourself sit and feel it for longer than you because often it’s, it’s often we like brush it off or move on quickly to like, oh, but I didn’t do it as much as this, or as much as them, or comparison or whatever you go to next. But just like actually sitting

Lauren: I love that. Yeah. I think those moments when I look around and see like so many friends and even people, I don’t know, creating this collective moment, . It really warms my heart, like I think it’s just so

Alena: Yeah,

And I think you, I mean, I think you’re very good at

Lauren: that.

Alena: You,

Lauren: you

Alena: Deb are really good at sort of creating the environment that make that makes joy more likely. You know, and

that is.

another, that is another way sort of setting their environment in a certain way or setting up more events or more get

togethers

Lauren: or even just

Alena: [00:17:00] alone.

Lauren: Yeah. Or it could be, or even just like reaching out to someone and mm-hmm. Maybe seeing if they wanna go do something with you. Totally. Yeah.

Alena: But an important thing about this is that you, you can’t force yourself, like, because then it’s kind of that and it’s inauthentic and it might even backfire because you’re like trying to make yourself feel something that’s inauthentic. It’s more about kind of building an awareness and your ability moments when those things and then again, . Sitting in than dismissing

Lauren: Nice. I think that another thing to be mind. Full too around pride because there is so much going on. I think we can feel, I think you kind of touched on this, like we can feel like , oh, I have to go out, and it’s, and there’s like, there can be kind of this like FOMO quality, but knowing that you can’t do everything, that’s the point.

There’s so much going on, especially in a city like Toronto, that it’s like, [00:18:00] it’s okay not to do

Alena: Yeah. Choose the things that you think will experience those to the fullest. And then rest when you need to or, or take a break when Uh, and another element of this focusing the effort you’ve So if you do have social anxiety, yeah.

Don’t focus on like. You know, having a perfect weekend where you socialize so much, but being like, I’m gonna check with this one event that I’ve wanted kind of been too nervous to, and if I stay there for half an that’s

Lauren: good.

That’s a win, you know? Yeah.

I love it.

Alena: And one last point, which you sort of touched you know, not comparing yourself to ’cause there are gonna be people who are more extroverted, have more money, whatever it is, who have more ability to

Lauren: in different, the Leos are gonna be out there,

Alena: leaders are gonna be out there, man.

Lauren: Right. So don’t

Alena: compare yourself to the Leos, compare yourself to the past. You,

Lauren: yeah. That’s, oh, I love

Alena: If you had never done that before, if you were [00:19:00] too shy to

try and now you’re gonna do it, like that’s your point

Lauren: else is

doing. Yeah. Yeah. That’s that that adage, comparison is the thief of joy. Absolutely. And pride. I think when it really comes down to it is about . Having like joy and love for who we are

Alena: You wanna find your joy, not

Lauren: else’s. Yeah. Find your joy. Yeah. Not no one else’s. No.

Seeing as, uh, pride month is just kicking off. We would love to hear any events and, , things that, , y’all are looking forward to. And we’ll, uh, be sure to shout them out in our stories and, , share them with everyone. But yeah, we hope everyone has a safe, fun, whatever that means to, to each individual pride.

, And if you’re an ally, show up.

Alena: Absolutely.

Lauren: And um, we also just wanna let listeners know that this is our last episode of the season.

We’re gonna be, , taking our own advice and getting out there and really just enjoying [00:20:00] pride. ,

Alena: so our goal for the summer, um, well first of all, we need, we do need a break too,

Lauren: Uh,

Alena: but we want to still put out some content. So we’re, every month we’re gonna be posting like reposting basically a replay one of our

Lauren: episodes Yeah. from

Alena: this season.

Lauren: I’m thinking boundaries and, uh, a few other gems. Yeah.

Alena: And then we’ll be back.

Lauren: in the fall. Have a great summer.

Alena: A

great summer. Have a great summer. Enjoy pride.

Lauren: This has been another episode of Dear Queer. Just a reminder, we are not actually experts. Any advice given should actually come from our experts who we will bring in from time to time.

Music brought to you by Sean Patrick Brennan, produced by myself, Lauren Hogarth, and your host as always, Alena Papayanis I’m cutting that.