I am proud to live in a country that supports, defends and encourages diversity amongst individuals.

I am proud to live in a country where my prime minister, premier and mayor walk in the Pride parade because they choose to participate and support ALL Canadians.

I am proud to live in a country where democracy flourishes and the right of free speech exists.

I am proud to be a gay black man in Canada.

But I am ashamed and disappointed with Pride Toronto and Black Lives Matter.

Months ago, the Pride Committee of Toronto decided to give Black Lives Matter (BLM) the status of honorary group. BLM has absolutely nothing to do with the gay, lesbian, transgendered community. They are an organization brought out of community concerns about violence directed toward the black community, notably at the hands of the police.

Historically, Pride has distanced itself from political issues not pertaining to members of the LGBT community, notably groups wanting to bring political issues of the Middle East into the parade. Why would Pride then recognize BLM in such a manner? Black people who identify with the LGBT community are already represented, just as are those of other ethnicities, some of whom are much more marginalized than the black community.

Having been granted their status what does the BLM group do? They disrupt the Pride parade. And why do they do it? For their own political agenda. Maybe they wanted the police to arrest them for an illegal protest, or for disobeying a lawful order of a peace officer but kudos to the Toronto Police Service for handling the matter professionally.

In order to get the Parade back on track, the executive director of Pride agrees to all the demands of BLM, including that police will no longer be welcome in the Pride parade.

What could be more political? BLM, an organization who clearly has issues with the police wants the police banned from marching in the parade. BLM responds by saying it wants to be inclusive. What they mean is inclusive for everyone except people they do not like or respect. Fighting discrimination with discrimination seems wrong on many levels.

The local police service provide a safe environment every year for Pride (more people attend Pride than any other Toronto festival). It paints its cars in the area in Pride colours, adapt uniforms and have been supporters of the event long before BLM was around. People around the world have long remarked about the police participation in the Pride parade as a statement on our acceptance of LGBT rights and we should not allow BLM to place its own agenda ahead of all the good accomplished thus far.

Shame on BLM for disrupting pride for its own agenda. BLM members need to look no further than themselves and realize that their own community has work to do to show everyone how much black lives really do matter. They cannot sit back and say they have done much in the grassroots of their community. My success as a gay black man comes from the attitude of my parents and myself. If anything, my community did little to encourage me to be a success.

I am proud of the LGBT community for the way BLM was treated during their protests. They were treated respectfully.

What should happen next? Pride should announce that police services can and are encouraged to continue to play an active role as participants in all Pride events. This will naturally infuriate BLM so I encourage them to spend resources and take legal action against Pride. This will show the public what they truly represent and will also serve a harsh lesson to the Pride committee to stay away from making associations with groups that simply want to use the Pride events to further their own agendas.

The executive director of Pride should be fired for creating this mess and acting irresponsibly for agreeing to BLM’s terms, jeopardizing future Pride events, and allowing BLM to dictate what Pride can and cannot do. Pride is about LGBT rights for everyone — it is not a soapbox to promote other political agendas.

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Pride needs to remember what it is about. You made a deal with the devil this year. Pay the price and learn from your mistakes.