BLM and LGBTQ+ Toronto made deal, no more LGBTQ+ Police officers in pride parade

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Danielle Bottineau says she's disheartened by Pride Toronto's decision to limit police involvement in its events.

Bottineau, a Toronto Police Service constable and a member of the city's LGBT community, has participated in Pride for the past seven years as a uniformed officer and an LGBT liaison on the force.

"I've been on a rollercoaster of emotions," Bottineau told Metro Morning on Thursday.

"I'm saddened by it for sure. I'm disheartened by it."

• Pride Toronto AGM vote reaffirms Black Lives Matter request for no police floats at parade

The decision to ban police in uniform effectively from Pride Toronto events comes after the organization's annual general meeting on Tuesday.

The item was not on the agenda, but was added at the last minute after requests from the crowd. The request was on a list of demands that Black Lives Matter Toronto issued to the organization this past summer during the Pride parade.

Black Lives Matter Toronto protesters block the Pride parade in July 2016. The list of demands the activist group presented to Pride Toronto during the parade have now been accepted. (Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press)

"I'm not discounting the voices that were in that space. I'm not discounting the voices of Black Lives Matter. I think those are important conversations that we need to have moving forward," Bottineau said.

"But I don't know that this is going to remedy any of that in regards to building a relationship.

"It needs to be a dialogue, not a monologue," she said.

Police involvement important to Pride

Bottineau said police officers should be visible participants in Pride events because their participation sends an important message to young members of the community.

"I'm a proud out gay woman, but I'm also a proud member of Toronto police," she said.

• Ottawa police union head 'troubled' by Pride ban on uniformed officers

"It's important for that 16-year-old kid that's in that gymnasium, that is struggling to come out, for them to see that."

When asked if Bottineau would attend Pride in 2017 out of uniform, she hesitated. "I don't want to make a rash decision," she said.

"It's been a very difficult 24 hours."

#FuckBLM

I always thought the military should remain neutral on political issues. I guess it also includes law enforcement. So, no big deal to me about Toronto cops doing the same.

Bottineau can still attend during days off and not identify as a cop.

Not sure what the issue is. It's a government agency, it should be neutral/non-representative.

Also, why drag your job into it?

*lol drag....

This kinda sounds like BLM is trying to drive a wedge between police and the gay community. If that's so, it could get to the point where the gay community has to choose between encouraging groups like the police to be more inclusive and understanding, or backing BLM on their mission. And given what I've seen of them, I suspect fully they will Hulk smash BLM under that bus.

Very disappointed in this, the cops taking part in the Pride parade is always awesome to see. Just so unnecessary and solves nothing.

It puts the cops in a non-partisan position which is where they should be, anyway.

When I was active duty serviceman, it was the same way. Military personnel can participate in the politics of their choice, but only in civilian clothes and on their own time. They're not allowed to publicly identify their work with whatever political activity they participated in. If word got back to the chain of command that they did, there will be hell to pay and I busted a few in my time.

Except that wasn't how or why the decision was made. There is nothing really overly political about Pride other than 'hey we exist and we're proud of it!' which yeah, some might consider political, but if we really consider such is rather silly.

It was not city or other government officials saying 'nope, can't have you there.' It wasn't the Pride group saying 'maybe we shouldn't imply support from the Police.' Instead the decision was made by the Pride group based on demands from BLM to exclude them which frankly was purely based in divisiveness.

You could tell BLM to go **** themselves and grow a pair.

Remember when the cops wore MAGA hats? That got them in trouble.

Most government positioned jobs, if not all, have this policy.

Even the perception of taking sides is enough as it looks like from the BLM's viewpoint. The only foolproof way is to remove the "police symbol" from the gathering.

Pride will have to comply if they want to accommodate the BLM. Otherwise, each side will end up going their separate ways.

So... BLM was being divisive... gotcha...

Regressives hate the military/police/security guards? What a shocker. No wonder they are seen as pansies.

If you're being snide, then give your viewpoint about it.

You have no idea what you're talking about. Did you even read the OP?

Well Military personnel in the USA, have been allowed to march in uniform during pride parades since 2012. And Canadian military members in uniform, did march in the same pride parade last year.

The issue here has nothing to do with political views of Pride Toronto. But an outside organization (BLM), doesn't want the police represented in the pride parade. And is pretty much bullying Pride Toronto by threatening disruption if compliance isn't met. There are also multiple organizations that march in pride parades. And the police don't necessary represent any of those groups just by being in the parade.

I don't really see a problem with police marching in a Pride parade. If anything, I see it as a good thing; it highlights that, yes, there are police who understand, and is a big show of an open door to make things better.

My problem with BLM on this is they may be putting the Pride people in a position where they have to choose between closing that door or making themselves an enemy of BLM. And in the end, that's only going to hurt the black community.

This is more of an issue with BLM Toronto's chapter. They're the worst BLM group out of the many in the US, I'm not sure why there is a BLM in Toronto.

I've always thought police should be neutral as well. They should remain on the sidelines ensuring security.

As they should, the head of the BLM in Toronto is a unapologetic racist..

Do police in Toronto shoot up black boys like they do in the states ?

Nope, not at all.

@FireEmblem_Man: I guess there is no reason for BLM Toronto to exist. Rebels without a cause / clue.

Wait a minute. What BLM do in Toronto? I don't think there was any black lives loss or blacks discrimination in Canada. Shouldn't this movement be exclusive to the US?

There isn't any particularly high loss of black life or black discrimination in the US either. False narrative is all that keeps BLM going.

Yes. I've worked for state government and you can't do a few things on the political side because of it.

@FireEmblem_Man: Hmm, BLM should really stop this constant hate towards cops. A few bad apples does not make the whole basket bad.

But with that said, the police has no business in that parade anyways.

Police should always remain neutral and should not show any political agenda.

The police have no business taking part and interacting in their community events? lol, okay there.

We are not talking community events here, a pride parade and having a float is not just taking part, it´s making a public political statement and no public office/department should do anything of that sort. They should always remain neutral.

And no the police have no business taking part in any political event no matter what it is.

The Toronto pride parade (I've gone a few times) is literally the biggest community event in the city, every summer, and they don't make any "public political statements". They have a float and take part like anyone else does. Teachers and the fire department takes part as well. You have no idea what you are talking about.

He wasn't black but the shooting of Sammy Yatim a few years ago caused a big thing here and the cop involved was initially charged with 6 years in prison. The police departments also have ended the practice of carding that targeted minorities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Sammy_Yatim

Whats political about it?

Dude when you work for a government you cannot take part in political agendas. That's all this is.

No, that is not what this is. Maybe that is what YOU personally think but that is not being discussed here. There is no political agenda being taken nor is it the government banning the police from taking part. The "ban" comes from the Pride organization itself due to pressure from BLM. That's all it is. Teachers, the fire department, and other public workers are still allowed to attend.

@perfect_blue: Is he not free to participate out of uniform? That's what he should have been doing. When you wear a uniform you represent something other than yourself.

Sure he himself is allowed to participate in plain-clothes but the police is more than just one person.

I've always enjoyed seeing the cops taking part positively in our community and this was one way they did it. It's a shame and needlessly strains the relationship between the police and Toronto.

And now you see the quandary of government participation....one side likes this....the other disagrees. So staying out of avoids all that. And it pass into yesterday's news soon enough.

BLM, and Sjws are in power within Canada. Look at their PM. When your PM gets rid of certain members of his cabinet in order to have a 50/50 split in his cabinet between male and female. Shit like that is societal suicide. I fully expect their government to cower before BLM, and give it whatever it wants.

I do not care if the Toronto pride parade was the biggest event in the world. It does not change anything about the fact that the pride parade is sending a clear political statement and NO public department should ever take part in ANY public event that is political. It´s as simple as that. '

If any police officer as a private individual wants to take part it´s there personal business. But it should not be in any official police capacity.

And if the fire department and public school teachers takes part as sent by the city, then they should of course also be stopped, they can do what ever they want as private individuals all they want.

But since you have a hard time with the idea, let me ask you a simple question.

Lets say that the police, fire and school department took part in a community event celebrating the christian church or took part in a march against the democratically elected president of a neighboring country or any number of other public events that is in a city of Toronto´s size. Is that ok? or do you draw the line at events or causes you do not support?

No one cares about what your personal reasons are or what you think about who should or shouldn't take place, so I'm not sure why you keep repeating yourself. Nothing you're saying is even remotely original or compelling anyway.

Did you even read the OP? You seem very confused as to the reason why the police isn't taking part in this. The facts here are it is NOT the GOVERNMENT that is banning them. It is the Pride organization and BLM reaching an agreement. I repeat: The government is NOT involved in the police being banned.

As for your other questions: yeah, why not? I'm not even Christian, let the police take part in those events too if the community they protect wants them there. The police are funded by the communities they serve so should be able to participate like anyone else can, just like other publicly-funded organizations can.

What´s not political? there is a number of political hot topics involved in that parade, Gay, Transgender, rights ect. ect.

I know Canada with Troudeu is very openly supportive of LGBT rights , but that is his political stand and should not be reflected by a city´s local departments. Since PM´s change and political views does the same thing, they should always remain free of openly supporting any political view.

What the employees of those departments do in their free time is their personal business,

It's quite amazing how people posting in this thread don't seem to understand this.

I understand quite well the situation. But, it's my view the cops should have politely declined the invitation from the very beginning because other groups may take a dim view of it like we're seeing now.

We've been in that spot before where the local Republican chapter wanted to be seen with men in uniform at some kind of pot luck. We declined, of course. I mean to them, it's just a get-together. No campaigns. No slogans. Nothing. Just good food and barbecue. But, our bosses knew too well the implications.

Whether right or wrong, people will take it the wrong way. It was best to err on the side of caution.

I'm not even sure how city officials got involved in this. I made no mention of them.

The police were authorized to march in that parade by the government and Pride Toronto. There wasn't anything illegal or against department policies for Canadian cops to simply be in uniform during that parade. Just because you feel a certain way, doesn't mean someone did something wrong.

And as someone who has marched and worked in a number of parades, while wearing a police uniform. I can say there's hardly anything political about parades in general. After watching many parades in person. Parades are more so a showcase of talent and product/brand promotion, with people just trying have a good time; than actual politics. If anyone is going to ramble on politics on such a day. It would likely be done at a festival/event after a parade. Hell the actual politicians who do march in parades, just wave and greet the crowds. As parades in motion, are truly not an environment that caters to political speeches.

Don't think the police should really be taking part in political demonstrations anyway. That's really not what they're for. Obviously out of uniform is fine. But in uniform they should remain completely apolitical, as far as possible.

You know your argument can be used for anything in here, no idea why you even take time to post or respond to anything in here. Nothing you say is important or even remotely interesting , so why take the time? perhaps go spend time with your partner instead.

But you seem to read with one eye closed, never said it was the government or the police that took the decision, and to be fair i could not care less that it was forced by the BLM movement. all that is important here is that at least now the police won´t take part so win-win.

We're allowed to participate in some activities such as parades for federal holidays like the Independence Day or Veteran's Day parades. I think those were it for us. Anything else? Nope.

Maybe I missed something. So someone correct me if I'm wrong.

@jun_aka_pekto: Among the many parades my unit marched in, include a pride parade. And some others that include a specific minority ethnicity.

I'm withholding further details to not disclose, or give away my workplace on a public forum. But I will say the pride parade is something my supervisor likes to assign us to do. Because we are treated with respect by the local LGBT community.

el oh el