Pride Toronto issued the following “open letter to the community” today:
“The Board of
Directors of Pride Toronto has listened to feedback from the community,
and the proposed plan for an Ethics Committee to review and approve all
messaging prior to the Parade, Dyke and Trans March has been withdrawn.
The process followed during the 2009 festival will remain in place for
2010.” (read it here)
Participants in the 2009 Toronto Pride Parade.
Pride Toronto announced on March 10 that all groups participating in this year’s Pride Parade and Dyke March would need to have their signs approved by an “ethics committee.”
The announcement drew fire from queer activists, who argued that the policy would limit free expression. More than 1,500 people joined the Facebook group Don’t Sanitize Pride: Free expression must prevail, and activists on Twitter organized using the #PrideTO hashtag.
Read our related coverage:
- Were Pride Toronto’s focus groups stacked?
- FREE free expression guidelines for Pride Toronto
- Artists to Pride Toronto: Freedom of expression should be offensive
- Pride Toronto developing “free expression policy”
- All signs must be vetted with us first: Pride Toronto
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