The City of Sao Paulo, in its wisdom, is sponsoring a flash mob event this coming Sunday to celebrate its diversity on the eve of Pride. The world's largest metropolis has realized that its future lies in attracting the brightest minds on the planet to visit and to work there.
Toronto's Pride, once the largest in the world, but now hugely eclipsed by Sao Paulo, has asked our mayor to join in promoting our diversity by attending our Pride parade, or at the very least, by attending the flag raising ceremony for Pride Week. He has refused to associate himself with either.
For the life of us we cannot understand how someone who ran for office on the pretext of managing the city as if it were a profit-making business can refuse to acknowledge that we are in a global competition to attract the brightest minds, and that those bright minds, these days, demand an open and appreciated diversity such as Sao Paulo is so willing to embrace... and that to attract that type of citizen, whether they already live here or want to come here from abroad, we need to stay in the game. Sadly, our mayor's message is one of nostalgia for an era whose time is long past. And more troubling, his refusal to openly associate with the gay establishment sends a message of retrenchment, discrimination, and backwardness. Very bad optics!
If you believe that Toronto's future lies in the embrace of its diversity, please contact the mayor (he who bragged during the campaign about being so in touch with the people) to let him know your feelings:
mayor_ford@toronto.caAnd in case we've scared you to the point of despair, take heart, take action, the future is in your hands, it gets better...
Have a fabulous Pride Week!!
(and call your mayor, he's expecting you'!!)
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