1 Dead Scores Overcome At Toronto Pride
by Jan Prout
365Gay.com Newscenter in Toronto

(July 1, Toronto) A Toronto man is dead and scores of others were overcome by searing temperatures at Toronto Pride celebrations on Sunday.

Temperatures hit the mid 30s (90sF) in the late afternoon, but with the humidex, it felt more like 40 (110F) as more than one million people celebrated in the city's gay village.

The dead man collapsed in a beer garden on Church Street and died within minutes. Toronto police say the 54 year old man appears to have died of heat stroke but an autopsy will be performed on Tuesday.

Dozens of others were overcome by the heat along the parade route, during the four hour spectacle. Many of those lining Yonge Street had arrived in the morning to stake out a good vantage point.

One onlooker, 23-year-old Priscilla Oldroyd collapsed without a heartbeat. Paramedics stopped the parade for about 30 minutes as they revived her and took her to hospital.

Oldroyd had come to the parade with her sister, Josie, who is transgendered. She was kept in hospital overnight and was scheduled to be released later today.

Paramedics said there were so many emergency heat related calls along the parade route they lost track. One emergency worker put the number at more than 40.

Several people on the 100 floats also fainted.

Vendors selling bottled water were on every street corner but many of the spectators said they could not get through the throngs of people to get to them.

Water cannons, a Toronto Pride tradition, were evident on floats everywhere with the crowds begging to be sprayed. But, most of the cannons were waterless within blocks of the start of the parade.

"I was there for six hours and the medical calls were non-stop," Toronto Police Sgt. Robb Knapper said. "All the calls were for the same thing -- people weren't getting enough water."

"Alcohol was a major factor," he said. "People think that alcohol will quench their need for liquids, but it only dehydrates the body."

More Than A Million Show Pride In Toronto
by Jack Siu
365Gay.com Newscenter in Toronto

(June 30, Toronto) Record crowds jammed into Toronto's Gay Village Sunday for the city's annual Pride parade.

More than 100 floats and marchers representing more 90 social groups, clubs, and trade unions took part. Toronto Pride has become the city's major summer tourist event with people coming from around the world. One man from Ireland said," Nothing like it. I've never seen anything so exciting," as he waved a rainbow flag on Yonge Street.

Hotels in the city are overflowing and some were referring latecomers to facilities more than a dozen miles away.

"Part of the reason is Canada's 60cent dollar," said gay city councillor Kyle Rae.

The parade was led off by the Church Street Pipe Band, their bagpipes festooned with rainbow ribbons and flags.

The four hour parade was held under sunny skies and warm weather. The mercury during the afternoon shot up to 34C (98F) with bottled water a major seller along the parade route.

One of the stars of the afternoon was Marc Hall, the 17 year old who took his school board to court for the right to bring his boyfriend to the prom.

The teenager was as excited to be in the parade as the crowd was to see him.

"Omigod, it was so much fun," Hall said enthusiastically after stepping off the float at the end of the parade route. "Not only was it my first pride, but I was actually in it, too."

As the parade wound its way down Yonge, the city's main thoroughfare, a block away on Church Street in the heart of the Village, hundreds of thousands of people listened to performers on three stages.

Pride wraps up Monday with a closing party on Canada Day.

With the country's national birthday and Pride coming on the same weekend this year, more than 1.5 million people will have participated in the four day event.

Dykes Show Their Stuff!
by Jan Prout
365Gay.com Newscenter in Toronto

(Toronto) Tens of thousands of lesbians and their supporters lined Toronto streets Saturday for the annual Dyke March. Loud and colourful, the march is the largest women's event in Canada and considered a warm-up for Sunday's Pride march.

The women only march began several years ago after lesbians felt left out of the mainly male Pride Parade.

Led of by Dykes on Trikes, the parade set off up Church Street, along Bloor and down Yonge Street.

“It's a great feeling, it's like yes, finally, I'm free. I'm around everyone else who accepts me for once,” marcher Beth Scutt said.

Saturday was Family Day at Pride as hundreds of children, with their gay and lesbian parents, celebrated in the playground at the Church Street School in the village. The kids were entertained by clowns with rainbow coloured wigs, and there were arts & crafts exhibits.

Elsewhere in the village, entertainers performed on three Pride stages, as thousands of people wandered up and down Church Street, turned into a pedestrian mall for the weekend.

Sunday up to a million people are expected to take in the Pride Parade, and a million more expected to watch it on television. The parade will be televised nationally on MuchMoreMusic.

It was also Dyke Day in San Francisco, Saturday. Led by Dykes on Bikes, the parade set off Saturday night through the Mission, winding up at Castro and Market where it merged with the predominantly male Pink Saturday celebration for dancing in the streets 'til dawn.

Sunday, Sir Ian McKellan, trades in his role as Gandalf to become Grand Marshall of the San Francisco Pride Parade.

In New York, the Grand Marshalls are Ab Fab stars Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders. the New York parade rolls down Fifth Avenue winding up in Greenwich Village.