Pride 2009 honorees chosen

El-Farouk Khaki, AIDS Committee of Toronto to lead parade

Immigration lawyer and activist El-Farouk Khaki was elected Pride grand marshal for this year’s festivities and the AIDS Committee of Toronto was elected honoured group at a Pride Toronto general meeting on Apr 2. The elections, held in the cafeteria of Jarvis Collegiate, drew more than 500 voters.

In the same vote singer/songwriter and activist Faith Nolan was elected honoured dyke and the Toronto Roller Derby was acclaimed as honoured group for the 2009 Dyke March.

The other nominees for Pride grand marshal were Ken Popert, president of Pink Triangle Press (which publishes Xtra) and Anji Dimitriou and Jane Currie, two lesbian mothers who were assaulted outside their child’s school in Oshawa in November. Other nominees for the Pride Parade’s honoured group were Heterosexuals for Same-sex Equality, the Out and Out Club, the Toronto Amazon’s Motorcycle Club and the Toronto Bisexual Network. Also nominated for honoured dyke was activist Wicca Cloutier.

Stay tuned for a full report from the meeting.

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