Toronto Pride Parade Draws 125,000

[justinsb]

Toronto's Pride parade draws huge crowd

Last Updated Sun, 26 Jun 2005 21:41:32 EDT
CBC News


More than 125,000 people gathered in Toronto for the city's 25th Pride Day parade, one of the biggest celebrations of gay culture in the world.

Spectators ignored temperatures of 33 C on Sunday and packed six-deep along the parade's downtown route to cheer on drag queens, square dancers, politicians and – for the first time – the city's police chief.

The parade was born a quarter-century ago after Toronto police raided a gay bathhouse and publicized the names of the men caught inside. Back then, a small crowd of gays marched on a police station but were met with jeers, not cheers.

Now, the celebration is a noisy, flashy declaration of gay pride that attracts big corporate sponsors. Organizers estimated that more than 125,000 people turned out to watch the parade and a million took part in Gay Pride festivities in Toronto on the weekend.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/06/26/pride-parade-050626.html

[Lautremont]

1. 124,999 - Stephen Harper wasn't there.

And a good thing, too. Guy's a real buzz-killer.

[Swede]

2. The mayor and chief of police were there. Jack Layton had strings of beads

and brightly colored hat and t-shirt.