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Mayor Rob Ford’s refusal to attend the gay Pride parade is being branded as “thinly veiled homophobia” — a characterization denied by Councillor Doug Ford, who himself said he doesn’t want to see “buck naked men running down the street.”

The councillor repeated the “buck naked men” line at least five times in his defence of his brother Thursday.

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Mayor Ford has never attended the colourful summer festival as chief magistrate, using the excuse that he usually goes up to his family cottage that weekend. On Wednesday, however, he stated that he simply doesn’t want to go.

This year, Toronto hosts World Pride, a larger event that celebrates the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community and which could draw as many as 2-million people to the city.

“I’m not going to go to the Pride parade,” Mayor Ford said at an mayoral event at the Scarborough U of T campus. “I’ve never been to a Pride parade. I can’t change who I am.”