Mayor raises Pride flag at city hall, gives key to city to faith leaders who stood up for equality
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Toronto marked the start of Pride Month with the raising of the Pride flag at city hall on Monday.
Speaking on the podium roof of city hall, Mayor Olivia Chow said the rights enjoyed today by the 2SLGBTQIA+ community were hard won and it’s important to honour the trailblazers in the fight for equality.
“This city will always be a city where love wins,” Chow said.
The intersex-inclusive flag raising celebrates the “resilience, diversity and contributions of Toronto’s Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning communities,” the city said in a news release on Monday.
Also at the ceremony, the mayor presented the key to the city to faith leaders who helped to secure marriage equality. The faith leaders officiated same-sex marriages at a time when marriage equality was not yet recognized under provincial law, according to the city.
“There is a special group of people right here today who had the courage, the moral courage, to stand up for love and stand up for it publicly,” Chow said.
The leaders who received the key were Rev. Deana Dudley, Rev. Dr. Cheri DiNovo, C.M., Rabbi Shalom Schachter, Dr. Sivasiri Visuvanatha Ranganatha Sarma, Elder Blu Waters and Elder Aina-Nia Ayo’dele. Imam El-Farouk Khaki will also receive a key but is out of the country.
The Ontario government legalized same sex marriage in 2003, while the federal government made it legal across Canada in 2005.
But in January 2001, same-sex couples were married at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto through the reading of the banns, the city said in a news release.
“The marriages prompted a legal challenge, ultimately contributing to landmark court decisions affirming the right to same-sex marriage,” it said.
Chow said the Toronto sign in Nathan Phillips Square will be lit up in rainbow colours this month, as “a beacon of love and hope in the heart of our city.”
Councillors Ausma Malik, Alejandra Bravo, Brad Bradford, Chris Moise, Dianne Saxe, Jamal Myers and Parthi Kandavel also attended the flag-raising.
