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Pride Toronto is an annual event held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in June each year. A celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area, it is one of the largest organized gay pride festivals in the world, featuring several stages with live performers and DJs, several licensed venues, a large Dyke March, a Trans March and the Pride Parade. The centre of the festival is the city's Church and Wellesley village, while the parade and marches are primarily routed along the nearby Yonge Street, Gerrard Street and Bloor Street. In 2014, the event served as the fourth international WorldPride, and was much larger than standard Toronto Prides. The event is organized by Pride Toronto, a non-profit organization. A growing complement of fourteen staff support the work of 22 festival teams; each team is responsible for an aspect of the festival. Each team was formerly administered by two or three volunteer team leads; in 2019, the decision was made to strip that down to one lead per team in favour of a staff-centered approach. The long-term vision for, and strategic oversight of, the organization and the festival is intended to be managed by 12 volunteers on the board of directors. As of March 2020, the board consists of six members.The first parade occurred in June 1981. For most of its history, Pride was a seven-to-ten day festival centred on the final week in June, with the parade falling on either the last weekend in June or the first weekend in July depending on the year's circumstances. Since 2016, the entire month of June has been declared Pride month, with a program of events throughout the month leading up to the parade. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the organization's in-person Pride festivities for 2020 and 2021 – including the Trans March, the Dyke March and the Pride parade – were cancelled. Virtual Pride Month festivities and an online "parade" took place in both years. The organization's executive director since 2020 is Sherwin Modeste. He succeeded Olivia Nuamah, who had been appointed in February 2017 to succeed Mathieu Chantelois. Festival overview Main events of Pride Toronto's festival include the Trans March, the Dyke March and the Pride parade. Although a definitive count of attendees cannot be determined, estimates in recent years have ranged from 500,000 to over one million for the week, and about 100,000 for the parade itself. The festival is often touted as being one of the largest cultural festivals in North America and the 22 city blocks that make up the festival site is closed to vehicular traffic. History Toronto's Pride Week evolved out of the mass protests that followed the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids, and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005. In the 2005 parade, newly appointed Toronto police chief Bill Blair became the first chief of police in the city's history to personally take part in the parade. He marched alongside politicians of all parties, including several federal and provincial cabinet ministers and Mayor David Miller. A theme is selected for each Pride festival that reflects the current context of the queer community and helps shape the festivities. Previous themes included "Fearless" (2006), "Unstoppable!" (2007), "Unified" (2008), "Can't Stop. Won't Stop." (2009), "+" (2017). World Pride 2014 At the 28th annual conference of InterPride, held in October 2009 in St. Petersburg, Florida, the InterPride membership voted to accept the bid of Pride Toronto to host WorldPride 2014 for the first time in North America. In the first round of voting, Toronto won 77 votes compared to Stockholm's 61. In the second and final round of voting Stockholm was eliminated and Toronto won 78% of the vote, fulfilling the 2/3 majority needed to finalize the selection process. WorldPride 2014 in Toronto included an opening ceremony with concerts at Nathan Phillips Square; an international human rights conference; a variety of networking and social events including Canada Day and Independence Day celebrations, and an exhibition commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Pride Toronto officials said that Pride Week 2009 drew an estimated one million people to Toronto and contributed C$136 million to the city's economy, and state that they expect WorldPride to be significantly bigger. The actual numbers turned out to be closer to 2 million visitors. Economic impact was first reported at $286 million in 2014 and later updated to $719 million. Controversies Commercialization and marginalization Toronto Pride Week has not been without controversy, as the growth of the event in recent years has led to allegations that it has become an overly commercial enterprise dependent on corporate sponsors and business interests, to the detriment of local community groups and political activism. Although Pride officially defines itself as inclusive of all races, communities and gender identifications, many such groups within the LGBT community have alleged that their events and communities and issues are increasingly marginalized in favour of a commercialized agenda. For example, many smaller community groups have indicated that they can no longer afford the increased fees required to place a marching contingent in the parade, which is increasingly dominated by corporate-sponsored advertising floats; and many LGBTQ-owned small businesses which historically depended on vendor booths at Pride Toronto for publicity have indicated that they can no longer afford the increased fees for inclusion in the vendor area.As early as 2010 the Blackness Yes! committee, which organizes an annual dance party called Blockorama for LGBTQ people of colour, was raising the alarm that their program was being involuntarily forced to move from its traditional space, the Wellesley Stage across from Wellesley subway station, to unsuitable spaces such as the smaller parking lot in front of the Church Street Beer Store, the unpaved and unsuitable-for-dancing George Hislop Park, or the far too small Alexander Street Parkette. An appropriate space for Blockorama became one of the nine demands highlighted by Black Lives Matter in the 2016 incident discussed below. In 2015, Pride Toronto was forced to withdraw applications to trademark the phrases "Dyke March" and "Trans Pride", both referring to events which are organized by outside groups on Pride weekend as a reaction to lesbian and transgender people's concerns that their issues and needs are not adequately addressed by Pride. Queers Against Israeli Apartheid In 2010 there was a controversy over Pride Toronto's decisions regarding the participation of the group, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA). Initially, Pride Toronto agreed not to allow the phrase "Israeli Apartheid" as part of a deal with the City of Toronto (which had suggested that funding would be reviewed if the group was included). However, Pride Toronto subsequently reversed that decision June 23 (after .... Discover the Tracey Sandilands popular books. 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    Roofing 101

    Tracey Sandilands

    Installing a roof is one of the most critical aspects of building a home. Most homeowners want a roof that looks good, is long lasting and requires little maintenance, and falls wi...