Pride Toronto vote against police participation in Pride Parade

Pride Toronto has voted against allowing the city’s uniformed police officers from participating in the 2019 Pride Parade.

The decision against police participation was made Tuesday night and was a close call, with members voting 163 to 161.

Uniformed officers were first banned from the parade in 2017 over concerns of racial profiling.

In 2018, officers were banned once again over criticism the force had not taken the disappearances of several men missing from Toronto’s gay village seriously.

Toronto police issued a statement saying they “remain committed to maintaining a dialogue with Pride Toronto as well as the larger L-G-B-T-Q community to deliver policing services that are inclusive and responsive to the needs of the community regardless of the outcome of one particular vote or event.”