Results tagged “derekforgie”

                            

Thanks to Derek Forgie, founder of Heterosexuals for Same-Sex Equality, Torontoist didn't just get to see Toronto's 29th Annual Pride Parade; we were in it! Marching behind HSSE's proud banner, we got to look out and see the masses of happy faces lining the parade route from start to finish. They perched on rooftops, dangled out of windows, swung from lampposts, and stood twenty rows deep—all dancing, waving, and cheering. While the crowd was taking photos of us (well, maybe not us specifically, but surely the lovely body-painted topless girls we were with), we turned our camera outwards on them to capture the amazing people who endured the early afternoon downpour to show their support, love, and pride. Happy Pride, everyone.

Toronto comedian and activist Derek Forgie got inspired to start Heterosexuals for Same-Sex Equality (HSSE)—a gay-rights group founded by people who identify as straight—from the unlikliest source: 100 Huntley Street. On a particular episode in 2003, the hosts and guests were denouncing gay marriage seemingly on the behalf of all straight married couples in Canada. "I didn’t feel this was a fair representation of my country," Forgie says, "and I vowed to prove it in numbers."