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Pride Toronto must return to its political roots, advocates say as sponsors leave – Toronto
As a major funding shortfall looms over Pride Toronto, some prominent LGBTQ+ advocates say it’s high time to rethink the organization’s corporate partnerships and return to its political grassroots.
Ahead of last month’s Pride parade, organizers sounded the alarm over Pride Toronto’s $900,000 shortfall after sponsors such as Google, Nissan, Home Depot and Clorox pulled their support.
Pride Toronto executive director Kojo Modeste attributed the corporate withdrawals to backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States, though some of the companies said their decisions were made solely because of budgetary considerations.
Although this year’s festivities went ahead as planned, Modeste warned that next year’s Pride festival may have to be scaled back.
Fatima Amarshi, a former executive director of Pride Toronto, says this is the right moment for a reset.
Amarshi led the organization for three years starting in 2005, right after Canada legalized same-sex marriage, and helped lay the foundation of its current funding model.
At that time, she said Pride Toronto vetted corporate sponsors only to ensure their internal policies were supportive of LGBTQ+ employees and the broader community.
“We weren’t looking at how corporate sponsors were funding arms manufacturers or fossil fuels or efforts to suppress Indigenous land claims. We were linking queer rights to human rights at the level of state repression and legislative oppression, but not via those who fund those efforts,” she said.
During her tenure, Pride Toronto’s budget grew from a little under $1 million to around $3 million, Amarshi said.
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But as that budget expanded over the years thanks to major corporate sponsors, some criticized the increasing commercialization of the annual Pride festival at the expense of its original purpose. More recently, Pride Toronto has faced calls to cut ties with corporations that allegedly profit from Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Gary Kinsman, one of the founding members of the Lesbian and Gay Day Pride Parade – the organization that eventually became Pride Toronto – resigned in 2024 over that issue and what he called the organization’s refusal to hear the demands of the group Queers in Palestine.
Founded in 1981, the Lesbian and Gay Day Pride Parade was a grassroots picnic and political march formed in response to increasing right-wing opposition to the LGBTQ+ community and a series of violent raids by Toronto police at bathhouses in the city. The first event involved a march down a much shorter strip of Yonge Street in front of the police detachment that organized the raids.
Kinsman said the grassroots spirit of the festival continued throughout the 1980s, but a turning point came in the ’90s when organizers started looking to involve corporate sponsors, which prompted early signs of division that came decades later.
“This begins to change its (Pride) character fundamentally. It moves quite sharply from being a community-based organization to becoming an organization not defined by communities but by alliances with corporate forms of organization,” Kinsman said in an interview.
Pride Toronto did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
For Beverly Bain, who along with Kinsman co-founded a group called No Pride in Policing, the growing calls to break Pride Toronto’s ties with corporate sponsors is long overdue.
“Pride Toronto, as it exists today, is a corporate pinkwashing Pride. I do not think it’s an organization that should be continuing to exist,” Bain said.
Pride Toronto hasn’t adequately highlighted issues that disproportionately affect the LGBTQ+ community, such as poor access to housing, mental health struggles and increased substance use, Bain said.
“We go back to the political roots of Pride … a political struggle for the liberation of queer and trans and non-binary and those who are racialized and those who are Indigenous and two-spirited and Indigenous and queer.”
Monica Forrester, executive director of Trans Pride Toronto, said she started attending the Pride festival in 1998, when it was still very much a protest organized by local shops, bars and community centres.
“We were still in a time of the bath house raids … and the transphobia and violence that a lot of queer people were facing, not only by people, but by systemic violence. It was really a time where we stood up to show our visibility, that we were here, we were queer and we weren’t going anywhere,” Forrester said.
But that changed over time, with corporate sponsors appearing to be at the forefront of Pride events, Forrester said. The fact that some of them have pulled support for the festival is “a testament that they were never really our allies,” she added.
Faisal Ibrahim, a spokesperson for the Coalition Against Pinkwashing, said it would be a “bare minimum” for Pride Toronto to cut ties with sponsors who financially benefit from Israel’s war efforts in Gaza, and agrees with Forrester that a heavy corporate presence can detract from the overall message of Pride.
Looking back, Amarshi said it was “incredibly short-sighted” to bring corporate sponsors into what she said has been a vital institution in advocating for queer rights.
“If Pride doesn’t find a way to manoeuvre and be accountable to the community and continue to be in a position where the community feels it legitimately represents them, the community will find its own voice and will find its own path forward.” Amarshi said.
“It’s never needed scale. It’s needed to be loud and it’s needed to be brave. That’s what started Pride and that certainly hasn’t gone away.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
TORONTO – Myles Straw’s timing to have a career game was perfect.
The Toronto Blue Jays outfielder was in the mix to lose his roster spot with the return of George Springer before the Blue Jays throttled the Texas Rangers 14-2 on Saturday.
But with Springer back after missing 15 games with a concussion, the Blue Jays instead optioned 26-year-old Joey Loperfido to triple-A Buffalo. The 30-year-old Straw would have had to clear waivers.
With a new skinny bat compared to the thicker torpedo bat he had been employing, Straw pounded a three-run homer in the second inning and followed with a two-run blast in the same left-field area in the third for his first multihomer outing and a career-high five RBIs.
“This team is great,” Straw said. “The roster is great. Joey’s been doing phenomenal. I don’t think he could have been doing any better.
“I think there’s a really good chance he’ll probably be back with us as soon as the rosters expand (in September). He’s played his butt off, and he’s earned every single bit of being here.”
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Straw added two singles to lead the Blue Jays’ 18-hit attack with a 4-for-5 game. His play overshadowed Springer’s return.
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The 42,686 fans at Rogers Centre welcomed back Springer with a rousing ovation, leading off the bottom of the first as the Blue Jays’ designated hitter.
Springer struck out in his first two at-bats and then legged out an infield hit on a bouncer to third base before being hit by a pitch from position player Rowdy Tellez, who took to the mound for the final two innings.
“Seeing him hauling (his behind) down the line, it’s just who he is. He sets the tone for us,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.
There was some rust on Springer’s game, despite his rehab start in Buffalo on Friday, his first game since July 28, after a fastball from Baltimore Orioles Kade Strowd concussed him.
The 35-year-old Springer homered in the second of his three at-bats on Friday.
“It was really cool to hear the fans before his first at-bat,” Schneider said. “It’s just a good feeling having him back with his presence, his ability, his personality.”
Schneider also felt good about witnessing Straw’s performance.
“I remember in spring training, we had him in Group B with some of the younger guys in camp,” Schneider said. “He handled that well and just did his thing.
“He’s a pretty integral part of the clubhouse. He’s kind of tight with everybody. He understands the role that we’re asking him to play, and he’s playing it really well.”
Schneider called Straw “a winning baseball player.” He has played on winning teams, such as the Houston Astros and Cleveland Guardians.
The Astros drafted Straw, and he arrived in Toronto from Cleveland in an off-season trade.
“It feels the exact same,” said Straw when asked about the similarities to the Houston championship teams. “We’re winning. That’s what they did over there at the time, and that’s what we’re doing here.
“I feel like we win a lot of baseball games, which we do, and that’s how you win a world championship. You win games.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
TORONTO – Myles Straw followed an early three-run homer with a two-run shot for his first career multihomer game as the Toronto Blue Jays throttled the Texas Rangers 14-2 on Saturday.
Straw ignited a six-run second inning with his three-run homer to left field and smashed his two-run blast to the same area in the third as the Blue Jays (73-51) won their third straight before 42,686 at Rogers Centre.
Straw added to his five RBI outing with two more singles to lead Toronto’s 18-hit attack with a 4 for 5 day.
Bo Bichette delivered a bases-loaded two-run double in the second, in which Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was thrown out at home trying to score from first base.
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Daulton Varsho piled on with a two-run homer as part of a three-run fifth. He reached base four times with three hits and a walk.
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With position player Rowdy Tellez on to pitch in the seventh inning, Davis Schneider also picked up a third hit with a three-run homer to left field.
Eric Lauer (8-2) left after walking the leadoff hitter in the sixth. His pitch count reached a season-high 102. He yielded a third-inning run on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
Texas lefty Patrick Corbin (6-9) departed after 2 1/3 innings, having given up seven runs on eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts.
Takeaways
Rangers: The Rangers (61-63) have lost four in a row.
Blue Jays: George Springer returned to the lineup after missing 15 games with a concussion. Batting leadoff in the designated hitter spot, he went 1 for 4 with two strikeouts, an infield hit and was hit by Tellez.
Key Moment
After committing a first-inning error on a fly ball, Schneider made a diving catch in left field in the fifth to take a possible run-scoring hit away from Jake Burger and end the inning.
Key Stat
Bichette’s two-run second-inning hit to the right-field gap was his 36th double to move him two behind AL leader Bobby Witt of the Kansas City Royals.
Up Next
Jose Berrios (9-4) will face Texas ace Nathan Eovaldi (10-3) in the series finale on Sunday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s late-game heroics resulted in three deafening ovations from the 42,260 inside the Rogers Centre on Friday.
The first roar arrived in the seventh inning when the Toronto Blue Jays catcher smacked an opposite-field two-run homer to right.
The next inning, the sellout crowd cheered as Kirk delivered a bases-loaded single to left field to score the game-tying and game-winning runs.
But the most thunderous praise from the faithful came when Kirk caught the Texas Rangers by surprise and stole his first career base.
“I didn’t know what was going on,” Kirk said through an interpreter after the 6-5 win. “Then I turned around and saw myself (standing at second base) on the scoreboard.”
The Blue Jays celebrated along with their low-key teammate’s first stolen base. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. pulled the base out of the ground and presented Kirk with the keepsake.
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Kirk stated the memento will soon be on display in his home. He also admitted he was surprised when first-base coach Mark Budzinski told him to steal second.
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“I looked around and said, ‘Are you serious?’” Kirk said.
Budzinski was serious. Kirk made history. He was holding on to the base during his post-game interview.
“The fact that he was holding it on the field post-game is even better,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “I think they’re authenticating it.”
Although Toronto starter Chris Bassitt endured a difficult outing, lasting only five innings and giving up an early three-run homer, his night ended on a high note, watching his battery mate’s late-game wizardry.
“He’s catching (all-time base stealing leader) Rickey (Henderson) slowly,” Bassitt said with a smile.
Kirk hit his homer with an 0-1 count and his single with a 1-2 count.
“Kirk, the hitter, is pretty hard to face,” Bassitt said. “So I hate to say it, but I expect it from him. There are not many guys on our team that I’d rather have up than him because he can do damage with any kind of pitch.
“I’m always happy when he’s up late in big situations.”
This was the American League East-leading Blue Jays’ 39th comeback win of the season, and second in as many games after Guerrero belted a game-winning two-run homer in the seventh inning for a 2-1 win against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.
“I think the more you do it, the more comfortable you are when you’re in that situation,” Schneider said. “It’s not luck. It’s hard to do, but like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it.”
Springer, Bieber updates
George Springer homered in the second of three at-bats in his rehab start for triple-A Buffalo on Friday and could return to the Blue Jays lineup on Saturday.
Righty Shane Bieber pitched seven shutout innings in Buffalo, striking out four with six hits and no walks on 90 pitches.
Bieber could make his Blue Jays debut next week, likely on the road against the Miami Marlins next Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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