TORONTO: City May Pull Pride Funding Over Reversal On Anti-Israel Group

Last week Pride Toronto announced that they were reversing their ban on Queers Against Israel Apartheid after weeks of protests and threats of a boycott. On Friday Toronto City Councilman Giorgio Mammoliti co-hosted a press conference with a collection of Jewish activists to announce that he would seek to retroactively pull this year's funding of Pride Toronto and would seek to end any future funding as well. Via Xtra:

Xtra asked Mammoliti if he was prepared to move that the city finally determine clearly whether or not QuAIA's presence in the Pride parade violates the city's anti-discrimination policy. But he dodged the question twice, saying at one point that city staff told council that QuAIA's presence is a violation of the policy. Ceta Ramkhalawansingh, manager of diversity management for the City of Toronto, told Xtra subsequently that the city has made no determination about whether QuAIA violates the policy. “It’s up to Pride to have policies and procedures in place,” says Ramkhalawansingh. “Whether QuAIA participates or not is a Pride decision, not a city decision.” Mammoliti made the announcement at a press conference earlier today. Among those also on hand were Moshe Ronen of the Canada-Israel Committee, Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress, gay lawyer Martin Gladstone, Avi Benlolo of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rossi, Mammoliti and Ford. Gladstone urged people to press Pride Toronto's sponsors in an effort to get Queers Against Israeli Apartheid pulled out of the parade.

Pride Toronto's main events are this weekend.