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Over, The Rainbow

By Marc Lostracco

rainbow_flag_cancelled.jpg
Photo by Ted Healey (deadrobot) from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.


It’s not enough to have Toronto amass into a literal garbage dump or to bar kids from City-run pools and daycares—now they’ve stolen the rainbow from the sky.
In possibly the saddest-sounding phrasing of any strike-based sign this week, the traditional hoist of the rainbow flag for Pride Week has been nixed. Though the annual flag raising event is usually just barely a blip on the radar—er, gaydar—it’s as if they’ve announced that cupcakes will be confiscated or that unicorn rides have ended. See, CUPE, you make us not want to be around you when you get like this.

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Comments

  • http://undefined David Toronto

    Want a flagpole? Why not ask Queen’s Park for permission?

  • http://undefined andrew

    Or, alternatively, one could write “See, City-as-employer, you make us not want to be around you”. It takes two to tango.

  • http://undefined rek

    You need to be union to operate a flag pole? That’s ridiculous.

  • http://undefined friend68

    Well, no matter what you think of the issues at hand, it was CUPE that chose the timing of the strike, and its coinciding with Pride Week was surely no accident.

  • http://www.bitpicture.com Marc Lostracco

    Plus closing daycares the week that regular schools go on summer hiatus, or the pools just as the weather gets hot. Sure, they were already in the midst of negotiations when the strike happened, but they had to hurry things up or else they start losing their opportunity for impact and maximum annoyance!

  • http://undefined CanadianSkeezix

    I don’t think it has anything to do with a union member operating the flag pole, but rather a desire not to hold events right in the middle of a picket line.

  • http://undefined friend68

    I’d say it is closer to that there is a deal in the collective agreement that events cannot take place on City property without union staff presence.

  • http://undefined accozzaglia

    Nah, since TD tosses so much into the fest, it should happen at the flagpole surrounded by the Mies van der Rohe skyscrapers. :)

  • http://undefined B.Kienapple

    What is going to be much sadder is the state of Church St. after Pride weekend. Garbage. Overload.

  • http://undefined friend68

    I does seem odd that with the foreknowledge of the strike coming that they didn’t find some alternate venue.

  • http://undefined CanadianSkeezix

    I’m not sure how relevant that is, if true, where the collective agreement is expired and the union is on strike. Although staffing would certainly be an issue, insofar as set-up, clean-up, etc. are concerned. City representatives were quoted in yesterday’s Post as saying that events were cancelled for security reasons.

  • http://undefined CanadianSkeezix

    It’s not so much that a flag is hoisted *somewhere*, but rather that the flag is raised at city hall by the Mayor. Given the history of the event, it’s a pretty big deal that Pride Week opens with the raising of the flag at the seat of local government.
    There was also the annual unfurling of the large Pride Flag at the 519 Centre on Church Street on the same day, so I suspect that there wasn’t really much reason to find an alternate venue for the official flag raising if it couldn’t be done at City Hall.

  • Pan Von Sol

    What church street may look like after pride weekend:
    (new window/tab)

  • http://undefined accozzaglia

    I guess suggesting that having a private entity manage the flag raising instead of the municipal seat makes me a bad old dyke. :)
    Well, as usual, I’ll just wisely avoid Church Street just as I do every fourth weekend in June.

  • http://undefined AR

    It should look normal because cleanup has been contracted out by the BIA with garbage workers MIA.

  • http://undefined deadrobot

    PrideTO on twitter announced the ceremony was moved to the front of the 519 community centre, where the flag was much bigger and more “unfurl-ly”.

  • http://undefined dykotomy

    Just so you know, there are more than a few queer people in local 79 and 416 who were equally disappointed by the cancellation AND I can tell you this: it wasn’t out of respect for the picket line NOR the excuse they’ve used to cancel – safety???
    The union has not acted in an unsafe manner to anyone at City Hall – but one union member was sent to the hospital yesterday after being hit by a car, others have been threatened pushed and shoved…
    “The CITY cancelled a flag-raising ceremony for Gay Pride set for yesterday morning at Nathan Phillips Square, saying that they feared for the security of those taking part, given the large number of striking workers in the square.”
    And so out of the 24,000 people on strike, if you calculate that maybe 10% (maybe more) are queer – yeah, we are just as disappointed the flag didn’t go up but this strike is about more than some people know or have taken the time to sift through to rumours and assumptions.