The images are shocking. On June 9 in Detroit, a group of armed neo-Nazis infiltrated the Motor City Pride Festival waving and wearing swastikas. There they ripped up a rainbow flag and appeared to urinate on an Israeli flag. Just the day before, several people were injured in Washington, D.C. after erroneous reports of gunshots amidst Pride revelers led to a stampede.

It’s no wonder, that here in Toronto, as we prepare for the Pride Festival Weekend many in the LGBTQ2+ community are on edge.

With an increase of homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic hate crimes here in Canada, and the rise of white nationalism around the world; now more than ever, Pride is an important celebration of diversity, and continued protest against all forms of intolerance and hate.

This year as we celebrate 50 years since the Stonewall Riots in New York City, we also recognize that hate is alive and well in our city, country, and world. There is still much work to be done.

Twice in the last month hate preachers have come to the corner of Church and Wellesley Sts. to spread their message of intolerance. On the first occasion, someone left in an ambulance, on the second occasion, the alleged perpetrator of hate was arrested, charged with causing a disturbance.

The church where I serve as pastor, the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, will undergo the customary RCMP bomb squad sweep with sniffer dogs as we prepare for our annual Church on Church Pride Service, this year under the theme of Tearing Down Walls | Building Up Hope.

We still remember the previous senior pastor Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes wearing a bullet proof vest for months after performing the modern world’s first same-gender marriage in 2001 and are keenly aware of threats of violence every time we worship.

Our Jewish and Muslim friends here in Toronto know that feeling all too well as many of them keep Toronto Police Services details at their synagogues and mosques whenever they gather for prayer. As we say in the LGBTQ2+ community with a popular social media hashtag, #LoveIsLove, and in the same way #HateIsHate.

Until all of us are free, none of us are truly free.

We can no longer pretend that incidents of hate like the shootings at Pulse, a gay bar in Orlando, Fla., are not connected to the shootings at mosques in Christchurch, N.Z., or the synagogue attack, in Pittsburgh or the race motivated Church shooting in Charleston, S.C.

We can no longer pretend that the misogynistic van attack on Yonge St. isn’t connected to the Quebec City mosque shooting. Hate is hate is hate. Homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism are all connected.

Now more than ever, we need to step out from inside our silos and stand up against all forms of intolerance and hate and advocate for one another across the lines of difference. That is the true spirit of Pride, symbolized in the multicoloured rainbow flag. It is our responsibility to stand up for one another.

So this year during Pride, let’s draw the circle a little wider and stand together in solidarity. Let’s make sure that racialized people are fully included in Pride and feel safe. Let’s take a moment and acknowledge the Indigenous communities on whose traditional territories we celebrate.

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Let’s make sure all our Pride events are barrier-free for people living with disabilities. Let’s make sure we are tolerant of all religious traditions in our city of Toronto, the most diverse city of the world. Let’s reach out to those who are very different than us, and lets take time to listen to one another.

And let’s say loudly and proudly that hate doesn’t belong here, in our city, our country, and our world; and make sure that #LoveWins.