Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he’ll never attend Pride parade: ‘I’m not going to change the way I am’
TORONTO, February 6, 2014 – As the city of Toronto prepares to host World Pride this June, the city’s mayor has stated that on principle he will not be attending. “I’m not going to go to the Pride parade ,” Mayor Rob Ford said at a candidates’ forum for the 2014 mayoral election Wednesday. Amidst catcalls, he continued: “I’ve never been to a Pride parade. I can’t change who I am.” Toronto Mayor Rob Ford While Ford has never attended a pride parade in all his years as mayor, this is the first time that he has admitted that he stays away on principle. In previous years , he has said he could not attend because of a family tradition of spending that weekend at their cottage. Councillor Shelley Carroll accused the mayor of “thinly veiled homophobia” for avoiding Pride and compared him to Russian president Vladimir Putin , calling the mayor’s refusal “an international problem.” “It’s very similar to the embarrassment that Putin is causing his nation and the international hatred towar