Toronto’s LGBT community makes solidarity statement

Toronto’s LGBT community is rebuilding, nearly one week after the mass shootings in a gay nightclub in Orlando, where 49 people were killed.

“We had a really really hard week, where we spent time crying, talking to each other, being angry,” Mathie Chantelois, Executive Director of Pride Toronto, tells CityNews. “Now it’s time for us to move on.”

The healing process started Friday night for Toronto’s most vibrant community.

Pride Toronto hosted an event inside Fly Nightclub, which saw up to 1,000 people gather in solidarity with the victims.

“For us to go back into the club, it’s a big thing because the massacre happened in one of our clubs,” Chantelois explains. “Tonight, we’re taking back our clubs, we’re going to dance, we’re going to sing, we’re going to kiss and hold each other.”

That attitude can be found up and down Toronto’s Church Street.

“Our lives shouldn’t be stopping, simply because one other person takes a very unfortunate decision very very far,” said David Mandel, a resident.

“You need to be out there, showing your support, and being there for everyone,” Page Smith, another resident, added.

The club once served as the fictional location of club Babylon in the show Queer as Folk. And Friday’s event, which was organized prior to the shooting during Pride Month, paid homage to the American series and but also sent a message of unity.

“In many ways tonight is an act of resilience, for us tonight is a night of activism,” Chantelois said. “We’re doing it because we have to do it, because we have to tell the world, we’re not going back into the closet.”