Celebrate the history, courage and diversity of Toronto’s Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning and Intersex (2SLGBTQI+) communities all month long with events produced and supported by the City of Toronto. We are proud to support organizations like Pride Toronto and The 519, who work year-round to address the unique challenges facing Toronto’s 2SLGBTQI+ communities.
During Pride Month, the TORONTO sign at Nathan Phillips Square will be lit with rainbow colours and the Intersex-inclusive progress flag will be raised at civic properties across Toronto. In the spirit of love and inclusivity, we encourage you to experience Pride Month in a way that feels right for you. Here are some suggested ways to participate:
100 Queen St. W. (podium roof at the top of the ramp)
Join the City of Toronto on June 2 for a flag raising celebration marking Pride Month. Hear from Mayor Olivia Chow, Members of Council and representatives from Pride Toronto, and enjoy performances by Sanjina DaBish Queen, Trash Panda Brass, Tempo Choir & DJ Blackcat. Whether you’re loud and proud or quietly fierce, come stand tall with your community in a city that uplifts all identities.
Fly 2SLGBTQI+ inclusive flags from your own property to show your support year-round.
Enjoy a fantastic lineup of 2SLGBTQI+ dance artists including Rebecca Black, Kiesza, Priyanka, Singing Out Choir and more. ASL provided.
The biggest drag event of the year returns with over 70 drag acts from Canada and beyond, including Onya Nurve, Lemon, The Virgo Queen, Jewels Sparkles, Suzie Toot, Grey Matter, Miss Fiercalicious and many more.
Learn More: Drag Ball – Pride Toronto
Close out the Pride Parade with a party at Nathan Phillips Square and dance the afternoon away to the hottest house grooves, disco tracks and Pride bangers.
Departing from the Allan Gardens Palm House, join Prime Timers Toronto to learn about Toronto’s queer history and community resilience. This 45-minute tour spotlights significant 2SLGBTQI+ community spaces along and around Church Street including Woody’s, which hosted Queer as Folk filming, the AIDS Memorial, a site where Oscar Wilde spoke in 1882 and more.
Feast on fresh food and fabulous festivities with drag superstar Tynomi Banks, DJs and a sensational lineup of 2SLGBTQI+ performers. Grab a bite to eat and take it all in along Market Street.
Learn More: PRIDE on Market Street
Experience 200+ incredible vendors, live music, interactive experiences and a welcoming vibe that brings people together to explore, connect and celebrate.
Festival Map & Areas – Pride Toronto
Honour Transgender, Non-Binary and Two-Spirit identities while raising awareness and advocating for human rights.
March loud and proud through the streets of Toronto. While this event is specifically for Dykes and Lesbians, allies are welcome to join. Allies are kindly asked to leave space at the front during the march for Dykes and Lesbians to lead the celebration.
Join more than 25,000 marchers and 250 groups, including City of Toronto, for a vibrant display of pride, strength and solidarity in the heart of Toronto.
Enjoy a day out at one of Canada’s oldest surviving queer spaces, which includes a clothing-optional beach. In 2024, Hanlan’s Point was adorned with a 600-metre rainbow pathway titled The Long Walk to Equality, a public art piece by Travis Myers that that pays homage to the queer history of this significant site.
Learn more: Hanlan’s Point: Toronto’s Gay Beach
519 Church St. (site of The 519)
Experience an exceptional lineup of world-class DJs, legendary music producers, extraordinary Queer performers, drag royalty and more at this series of outdoor parties. Entry is by donation and all funds raised go to facilitating year-round programs and services The 519, Canada’s largest 2SLGBTQI+ community centre.
Learn More: Green Space Festival
Fort York National Historic Site: June 12 to 17 at 9 p.m.
Grab a blanket and head over to Fort York National Historic Site for a series of classic cinema including Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet, Lovers Rock, I Saw the TV Glow and Clueless. Food and alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase (no outside alcohol permitted) and films will be screened with open captions.
Entry by donation or pay what you can.
Learn more: Toronto Outdoor Picture Show
Peruse Queer reading recommendations and enjoy fun-filled events brought to you by the largest library network in North America. Because reading is what? Fundamental! Events include Rainbow and Drag Performer Storytimes, book clubs, film screenings and more.
Learn more: Pride Celebration: Toronto Public Library
Toronto Zoo, 2000 Meadowvale Rd.
Join drag performers as they read animal-themed children’s stories that teach lessons of inclusion, diversity, self-love and respect for others. This event is included free with Zoo admission.
Get Toronto Zoo Admission Tickets
Enjoy an evening of ferocious lip syncs and fierce laughs with performances by some of the hottest drag names in town including Makayla Couture, Juice Boxx, Erin Brockobić and more. This event is not included in general admission and requires a separate ticket.
Learn more: Your Toronto Zoo Celebrates Pride
777 Lawrence Ave. E. (Weston Family Library)
Enjoy a drag story time event with Gila Münster (she/her), the cross-dressing and cross-stitching Jewish American Princess.
Learn more: Drag Story Time with Gila Münster – Toronto Botanical Garden
Make new connections, join a workshop and develop skills at this unique community event. Speak with local healthcare organizations about topics such as gender-affirming care, learn about 2SLGBTQI+ programs and discover a variety of community services. There’ll be free food and a Kiki Ball, where you can walk the runway or simply cheer on the contestants.
Family Pride offers a vibrant environment where parents, caregivers and children (up to age 12) can connect, play and celebrate. Expect a weekend of music, storytelling, arts and crafts, interactive performances and family-friendly entertainment.
Celebrate youth excellence through singing, dancing and drag performances as new and emerging queer and trans youth talent take over the stage for an unforgettable night. Special guests include Priyana, Joseph Robinson, Klimax and Jimmy Falic.
Celebrate the creativity and cultural richness of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer artists in this vibrant showcase curated by 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations, featuring stunning drag performances, electrifying musical acts and the unforgettable beats of DJ Fawn Big Canoe.
Come together for an enriching community gathering, celebrating the spirit of unity and resilience. Enjoy vibrant performances, a Two-Spirit artists market and opportunities to connect with community.
Check Pride Toronto, Festival Map & Areas for exact stage locations.
It is important to recognize that 2SLGBTQI+ people have existed throughout human history and across all cultures. European and Christian colonization of many parts of the world imposed their views onto the peoples they colonized. This included prescribing strict heterosexual and male-female gender standards. As is the case with many non-mainstream groups in society, 2SLGBTQI+ people are often singled out and persecuted.
The North American 2SLGBTQI+ rights movement that shapes modern understanding of 2SLGBTQI+ people was part of many social justice movements that pushed back against power structures starting in the middle of the 20th century.
The practical and symbolic social justice milestones shared below illustrate the correcting of wrongs, not the giving of extra rights. As an example, Canadians over the age of 50 lived during a time where police could arrest, jail and convict an adult for their private behaviors within their own homes.
While progress has been made, 2SLGBTQI+ people still face a great deal of inequity and exclusion today in Canada and around the world.
1971: Toronto’s first “Gay Day Picnic” was held at Hanlan’s Point Beach on the Toronto Islands on August 1 and was organized by a group of gay and lesbian activists.
1981: Four bathhouses in Toronto are raided by the Toronto Police Service in Operation Soap. The event is now considered one of the crucial turning points in Toronto, and Canadian, 2SLGBTQI+ history, as it led to demonstrations, protests and community activism. The protest march is generally recognized as the first Toronto Pride event.
1991: Toronto City Council officially proclaimed Pride Day (part of anti-discriminatory measures). Kyle Rae is elected as the first openly gay member of Toronto City Council.
1993: Rainbow Flag is first raised on the courtesy flagpole and Pride Week is proclaimed and presented as part of the ceremony to Pride Toronto.
1995: Barbara Hall becomes the first Toronto Mayor to march in Pride Parade
2000: Women’s Bathhouse Raid: an all-female Pussy Palace party held at Club Toronto in September was raided by six male police officers.
2003: The City of Toronto adopts a new Vision Statement on Access, Equity and Diversity that reads in part “…the City will create an environment of equality in the government and in the community for all people regardless of their race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, disability, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, same sex partnership, age, marital status, family status, immigrant status, receipt of public assistance, political affiliation, religious affiliation, level of literacy, language and/or socio-economic status.”
2005: On the 25th anniversary of Toronto’s Pride Week, Bill Blair becomes the first Toronto Chief of Police to participate in the parade.
2010: Kristyn Wong-Tam is elected as the first openly lesbian and racialized member of Toronto City Council.
2014: The City of Toronto hosts World Pride in June (making Toronto the first City in North America to host World Pride). The Rainbow Flag flies at Toronto City Hall to protest anti-gay laws in Russia in relation to the 2014 Winter Olympics.
2015: Toronto hosts the first ever Pride House at a Pan American Games event.
2016: Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders issues an official statement of regret for the Operation Soap raids of 1981. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marches in Toronto’s Pride parade, becoming the first PM of Canada to attend a Pride event. The Toronto chapter of Black Lives Matter stages a sit-in as the honoured group of the parade, demanding more funding to events for racialized people at Pride, and removal of police presence as participants in future Pride festivals in Toronto.
2017: Toronto Police Service raised the Rainbow Flag over its headquarters.
2019: Toronto City Council approves the formation of an 2SLGBTQI+ Council Advisory Body.
2014: The Rainbow Flag is first flown as an exceptional case. The Rainbow Flag also flew during the Sochi Olympic games in February of that same year (the subject of a special motion in the House).
2015: The House approved a motion which added the Rainbow Flag to the list of approved flags – making it an annual event. As per this motion the Rainbow Flag is flown for the duration of Pride week.
2016: The Transgender Flag was first flown in November to mark Transgender Day of Awareness.
2017: The Rainbow Flag, with the Transgender Flag underneath it, was flown during pride week. This is the only time on which two flags were flown from the same pole. Staff initially denied the request as it runs counter to accepted flag protocol but were overruled by the 3 political parties. The Transgender flag was also flown in November.
1969: Canada decriminalizes homosexual acts between consenting adults with the passage of the Criminal Law Amendment Act (received Royal Assent on June 27).
1987: Sexual orientation is included in the Ontario Human Rights Code as a prohibited ground of discrimination.
2003: Ontario’s Court of Appeal rules that the Canadian law on traditional marriage is unconstitutional. Ontario becomes the first jurisdiction in North America to do so and becomes the first city in North America to perform same-sex marriages.
2005: Canada legalizes same-sex marriage.
2012: Ontario includes gender identity and gender expression as protected grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
2016: Canada includes gender identity and gender expression as protected grounds under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Rainbow Flag was first raised on a temporary flagpole on Parliament Hill June 1.
2017: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offers a formal apology in the House of Commons to 2SLGBTQI+ people affected by Canadian policies between 1950 and 1990 including civil servants, military members and criminalized Canadians who endured discrimination and injustice based on their sexual orientation. The Pride Flag was raised on June 14 to mark the passage of Bill C 16 by the Senate. In addition, the Transgender Flag and the Canada Rainbow 150 flag were also raised.
2018: Flag-Raising Ceremony for Pride Month on June 20 on the Front Lawn Parliament Hill with the Prime Minister.
