1969: During the final weekend in June, drag queens and queer street kids riot at the Stonewall Inn, in New York City.

In Canada on August 28, the federal government decriminalizes homosexual acts for consenting adults over 21, under then-Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau. Trudeau utters his famous "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation" statement.

1970: Toronto's first "Gay Day Picnic" is held at Hanlan's Point on Sunday 01 August as a fundraiser to send activists to Ottawa for a 2nd anniversary march marking decriminalization.

The picnic is organized by Toronto's first queer activist organizations - the University of Toronto Homophile Association (UHTA), Toronto Gay Action Now, and the Community Homophile Association of Toronto (CHAT).

On the 28th of that month, under police watch, the first gay demonstration in Ottawa takes place. 100 activists attend.

1972: On July 9th, the second annual Gay Picnic is held as part of a series of events for the first Gay Pride Week. The week includes a festival, film night, Pride Dance, a rally and a march to Queen's Park. Activists present a brief to the Ontario government.

1973: Pride Week is August 17-26. The organizers ask Mayor David Crombie to recognize the event, but are turned down. Permission to march on Yonge Street is also denied.

1974: Pride Week is August 17-24 and includes another Pride Picnic on Ward's Island, a theatre night and church service at Metropolitan Community Church.

More than 100 people march from Allan Gardens to Queen's Park in an effort to include sexual orientation in the Ontario Human Rights Code.

The mainstream press reports on the events for the first time. The Globe and Mail misreports the numbers of those involved and the mood of the event, characterizing the marchers as "beating a hasty retreat".

1975: No organized Pride events took place.

1976: No organized Pride events take place, but the Fourth Annual Gay Conference for Canada and Quebec is held in Toronto.

1977: No organized events; Anita Bryant declares her war on homosexuality. Teenager Emmanual Jacques is raped and murdered above Yonge Street, and a strong backlash is levelled against the Toronto gay community.

1978: From August 24-27, GAYDAYS: In Celebration of Lesbians and Gay Men, is held. This was the first year Pride Day was celebrated at Cawthra Park, with ceremonies on the steps of the 519 Community Centre and a beer garden in the park.

Some speakers generate controversy by supporting intergenerational sex and S/M. A PrideFair is also held at Queen's Park.

1979: No organized Pride events.

1980: No organized Pride events. The Barracks bathhouse is raided, customers are arrested and police inflict extensive damage to the premises.

1981: On June 5, Metro Toronto Police raid various bathhouses, arresting 400 men, in the largest Canadian mass arrest except for the October 1970 FLQ crisis. Again, extensive property damage is inflicted by police. For added public humiliation, the "found-ins" are herded into the streets in towels to be processed. The names of those arrested are publicized by the police and local media, destroying several lives.

A major demonstration is held at Yonge and Wellesley the next day by hundreds of Toronto queers and their supporters, closing down the street. Activists start working, and the group Gays and Lesbians Against the Right is formed. Future mayor Barbara Hall is among the legal counsel defending those arrested.

Lesbian and Gay Pride Day Toronto is legally incorporated. 1,500 celebrate Pride Day on Sunday 28 June at Grange Park. In spite of the politically charged atmosphere that year, the day is billed as a time to relax, celebrate, and as "an afternoon of fun and frolic."

1982: June 28th at Grange Park, despite opposition from City Hall, 2,700 attend with the participants from the "Doing It" and "Wilde 82" conferences.

1983: Pride is held June 26th, this year at King's College Circle, University of Toronto, due to previous complaints from Grange Park area residents. 3,000 people come to celebrate.

1984: Pride is held on July 1st, Canada Day, in Cawthra Park with 5,000 celebrants.
Reviving the political aspect of Pride, the theme for this year is "We Are Everywhere: 150 Years of Faggots and Dykes." The event was a commemoration of "diesel dykes, street kids and drag queens (as still being) our dispossesed."
For the first time Church Street is closed and people dance in the street.

1985: Under the theme "Coming Together," Pride Day is held June 30th. Mayor Art Eggleton refuses to proclaim Lesbian & Gay Pride Week. 8,000 attend the festivities in Cawthra Park.

1986: Pride's theme for this year is "Forward Together." Again Mayor Eggleton refuses the proclamation, yet 10,000 celebrate in Cawthra Park.
The first Pride Committee is formed to organize the event. For the first time, the Pride program and logo focuses on AIDS. The logo depicts an "electrocardiogram recording the last heartbeats of people dying of AIDS."
Despite AIDS inducing hysteria and creating pariahs of people with the disease, corporate sponsors support Pride for the first time and help meet growing expenses for the event.

1987: Sexual orientation is included in the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Pride's theme is "Rightfully Proud," and 15,000 people attend. Again, Mayor Eggleton refuses to issue a proclamation.

1988: For "Viva la Difference," Pride Day gets its first parade Grand Marshals; Karen Andrews and Svend Robinson.

The temporary AIDS Memorial is installed in Cawthra Park.

20,000 people attend Pride celebrations. Official proclamation is again refused by Mayor Eggleton.

1989: Pride's theme is "Vision 20/20: Setting Our Sights," to remember the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. While 25,000 people attend, official proclamation is again refused.

1990: Pride's theme is "By All Means Necessary."

Mayor Art Eggleton still refuses to proclaim Pride Week. After he proclaims "Official Muppet Baby Day", the Pride Committee files a complaint of discrimination with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Toronto City Council votes to officially proclaim Pride Day, then recants. The Ontario Human Rights Commission rules against the Committee which is now left with $10,000 in legal fees.

Aids Action Now holds a parade Die-In. 40,000 people come and celebrate this year.

1991: "Everyday, Everywhere: A New Decade of Pride" celebrates the tenth anniversary of the incorporation of the Pride Committee.

City Council proclaims Pride Day for the first time. The parade Grand Marshals this year are Two-Spirited People of the First Nations. 80,000 people celebrate.

In November, openly gay candidate Kyle Rae wins a seat as City Councillor for Ward 6.

1992: The Supreme Court rules that under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act, gays and lesbians cannot be excluded from entering the Canadian Forces. The federal government does not appeal the ruling.

"Breaking the Silence" is Pride's theme. This year the Grand Marshals are children of gay and lesbian parents. 120,000 people attend.

1993: 150,000 people take part in Pride Day in Toronto. To celebrate the theme "Come Out", the parade Grand Marshals are members of "support groups to gays and lesbians in the coming out process".

The parade starts at Carlton Street at Church, moves over to Yonge, up to Bloor and back over to Church. The Metropolitan Community Church holds services in the morning at Maple Leaf Gardens.

In the U.S., one million lesbians, gays and transgendered people attend the March On Washington with Canadians making up the largest international contingent.1

1994: Pride's theme is "The Best is Yet To Come." The theme, chosen the previous fall, proves correct as provincial MPPs defeat Bill 167 recognizing same sex spousal benefits in Ontario after NDP Premier Bob Rae puts it to a free vote. Liberal opposition leader Lynn MacLeod flip flops, first supporting, then voting against the bill. Third party Progressive Conservative leader Mike Harris opposes the bill.

The parade Grand Marshals are drag kings and queens in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Stonewall. The Church Street Business Association lines Church Sreet with permanent rainbow flags. 400,000 people come and celebrate.

1995: For "Remember, Celebrate, Make a Difference", the parade Grand Marshals are Jim Egan and Jack Nesbit, who lose a spousal benefits decision but win a Supreme Court ruling that the Constitution recognizes the equality of lesbians and gays.

The Pride Committee collapses in February due to a mass resignation of a majority of the Board of Directors in a vote of non-confidence against the board itself. Kyle Rae assists community members to reorganize a new committee which in 15 weeks organizes Toronto's largest Pride Day, and North America's largest at 650,000 official celebrants.

New Police Chief David Boothby allows four lanes on Yonge Street to close for Canada's second largest parade, which takes over three hours. MPs Svend Robinson and Bill Graham, and Mayor Barbara Hall speak on the stages and walk in the parade.

1996: Pride's theme is "We Are Everyone's Family." The Grand Marshals are four lesbian couples who won the right to adopt their partner's children. 750,000 celebrated during Pride Day and throughout the three-hour parade. The first ever Dyke March is held, with a turnout on Saturday of 5,000.

The Pride stage runs for two days at 11 hours each day of continuous queer music, featuring Carole Pope, the Parachute Club, and comedian Elvira Kurt. The City of Toronto and the Pride Committee study Pride's economic impact and show that over 46 million dollars is spent by Pride tourists.

1997: "Queer By Nature" is the theme for Pride Week, running June 23-29. An estimated crowd of 750,000 turn out for the week's events. The Pride Committee recognizes as Grand Marshals those individuals involved in establishing anti-homophobia initiatives within the education system in Toronto. They include Tim McCaskell, Tony Gambini, John Campey, Crain Zook, Vanessa Russel, Margot Francis, Doug Stewart, and Ken Watson. The sun shines on 10,000 women who take part in the second annual Dyke March.

1998: "MegaPride" is the theme for the first Pride Week celebration in the newly amalgamated "megacity" of Toronto, June 22-28. After initial reservations, new "megamayor" Mel Lastman has a fantastic time on a fire truck in the parade, getting soaked by revellers with power water guns. 12,000 women take part in the Dyke March.

1999: Pride Week's theme is "One Pride Fits All." Young people raise their profile at Pride, with a large contingent in the parade and the addition of Fruit Loopz as one of the entertainment events.

This time, Mayor Lastman is armed with his own "supersoaker," giving back to the crowd as good as he gets. Corporate sponsorship revenues are higher than ever and put Pride on firm financial footing for the next year.

2000: "Heroic Past, Proud Future" - a time to look back on all that LGBT communities have accomplished and gird our loins for battles yet to be won. Heroes Sky Gilbert and Michelle Douglas join the parade as Grand Marshals.

2001: "Love" is in the air at Pride 2001. Our LGBTTIQ community proudly unites to discover, celebrate and express love for our partners, our communities, and ourselves. For the first time, the City's Official Proclamation of Pride Week includes bisexuals, transsexuals, and transgendered persons. Grand Marshal is Mirha Soleil-Ross and Honoured Group is the 519 Community Centre. The Globe and Mail reports that Toronto's Pride parade has become "a Canadian institution."

2002: "Uncensored!" is the theme for this year's Pride celebrations. J.P. Hornick and Rachel Aitcheson of the Toronto Women's Bathouse Committee are this year's Grand Marshalls, while the Glad Day Bookshop is the Honoured Group. Coinciding with Canada Day celebrations, the opening of Dundas Square, and with an extended parade route, this year's Pride Parade is expected to break all records.


Written and compiled by Pride Toronto.
Pride Toronto thanks the Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives (CLGA) for their assistance in the research of this information.