The political debate over the participation of the activist group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in the Pride festival will continue even though the group unexpectedly announced Friday morning that it will not march in this year's parade.

The chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, a prominent opponent of QuAIA, said after the QuAIA announcement that he considers the matter “closed.” But Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti said he will put forth a motion at council’s executive committee on Wednesday making Pride funding contingent on receiving a letter from the organization guaranteeing to the city that QuAIA will not participate.

The letter, Mammoliti said, must say that Pride will “enforce” QuAIA’s exclusion, not simply confirm that Pride has received notice of QuAIA’s intention to exclude itself.

“If they’re prepared to write that letter, then they’ll get their cheque, the way they get it every year. . . if not, then we can’t do it, because we’re not going to sit around and do this debate every year, wonder whether or not this group is going to participate,” Mammoliti said.

Pride’s co-chair, Francisco Alvarez, said the organization could not write such a letter. The decision about QuAIA’s participation, he said, will be made through Pride’s new dispute-resolution process, not by the board of directors.

Under the process, complaints about parade participants will be ruled upon by a panel of adjudicators selected from a roster mostly composed of distinguished lawyers.

“We would submit a letter informing them of the result of that process,” Alvarez said. “We’re not just going to exclude them without a process being followed.”

Mammoliti’s made his comments to the Star after allies on the issue, including Councillor James Pasternak and the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said in interviews that they were satisfied with the QuAIA announcement.

After learning of Mammoliti’s plan, Pasternak said he would support it. Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber dissented.

“We understand and we appreciate Mr. Mammoliti’s desire for closure on this matter. I think we all have the same goal in mind, which is to make sure QuAIA does not march in the parade. However, we believe now that this matter has come to a successful conclusion, and we look forward to a great parade,” Farber said.

In a news release Friday morning, QuAIA said it had made the decision to hold independent Pride Week events outside of the festival so that Mayor Rob Ford is denied a convenient pretext for withdrawing funding.

Ford said in March that the city should not provide funding to Pride if QuAIA's “hate speech” is permitted. But he has also said that funding for Pride and other festivals should be eliminated simply for the purpose of saving money.

“Rob Ford wants to use us as an excuse to cut Pride funding, even though he has always opposed funding the parade, long before we showed up,” QuAIA spokesperson Elle Flanders said in the news release. “By holding our Pride events outside of the parade, we are forcing him to make a choice: fund Pride or have your real homophobic, right-wing agenda exposed.”

Ford will face a difficult council battle if he seeks to deny support to Pride on purely fiscal grounds. In a Star survey days after the 2010 election, only two of 32 councillors who responded said they were in favour of cutting all parade funding. Seventeen were opposed and 13 said they needed to learn more about the issue.

“I don’t have a problem with helping out cultural, civic festivals, whether they’re cultural festivals or parades,” Pasternak said. “The city can play a role in economic activity and social harmony. And for many years, (Pride) did, and was an important economic tool to the city, but it got mired in controversy and became extremely divisive.”

Before learning of Mammoliti’s comments, Alvarez called QuAIA’s decision a “huge relief.”

“We’re surprised, and I’d say that it’s very, in a way, gracious of them to step out in this way,” Alvarez said. “We hope that now the city can move forward with funding us with confidence, as they have in the past, as that issue is no longer going to be part of the parade or the festival, so none of the city’s grant will be supporting the activities of QuAIA.”

Alvarez said Thursday that Pride would have to make significant cutbacks this year and possibly face long-term extinction if the city did not provide any support. Last year, the city gave Pride a $123,807 grant and $245,000 worth of services, such as litter cleanup and policing; together, city support amounts to about a quarter of the festival budget.

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In a report released Wednesday, city manager Joe Pennachetti noted a study that said the 2009 festival generated $94.3 million in economic activity.

Pennachetti’s report concluded that QuAIA’s participation in Pride does not violate the city’s anti-discrimination policy.

QuAIA’s decision represents a significant tactical shift for the group, which fought intensely last year for the right to participate in Pride.