I went to the Gay Pride parade today. I was impressed: 75% of the floats were political or not-for-profit. Sure, there were a bunch of corporations. But there were floats from dozens of TBLG activist groups, including union caucuses and different national & cultural organizations. I was expecting to see massive ads for Mac and Labatts; but they weren't there. The evil sponsors, Rogers, who had demanded that all floats carry Rogers branding, were nowhere to be seen.

A word on branding gay pride. While I can't get too upset with gay bank employees, I wish they'd think about what their capitalist masters do to the prospects for sexual liberation. Banks promote 'respectable' gay pride i.e. middle class people with money. Gay neighbourhoods tend to be exclusive places where, if you're not white, male and well off, you don't fit in. Capitalists change gay issues from struggle and liberation to 'acceptance'.

Some history: When the first Gay Pride march started here in 1981, it was boycotted by the local businesses, who were afraid of too much publicity. Corporations wouldn't touch it, and no one wanted them to. Many of the organizers were communists, who connected their sexual oppression to capitalist social relations. A communist revolution would destroy the institutions of capitalist power that oppressed gay people, and create the space to redefine and break up gender roles. But I don't expect the bank employees to know that.

Gay people have money? Damn, we better get on this bandwagon

I'd even forgive the gay cops. Unfortunately, their courage in attending Pride gives public acceptance to an organization that harasses gays and lesbians, and beats and occasionally kills gay streetworkers, not to mention black youth. But that's a matter for the organizers - or people pressuring the organizers.

However, I do expect the organizers not to turn Pride into an election spot for the Liberals. The Liberal Party allowed a 'free vote' on same sex marriage, catering to the bigots in their own ranks. They cut transfer payments to the provinces, leading to the massive social service cutbacks of the 1990s that affected all social justice organizations. They began Canada's war adventures in Afghanistan and Haiti. As a party devoted to capitalism, the Liberals perpetuate the system of inequality and sexual & gender oppression that has made life so horrible for so many gays and lesbians.

And there they were, party workers dancing in the streets waving their candidates' names. I stood with my arms folded until I saw people with Michael Ignatieff signs. Trumpeting the butcher of Kabul - oh sorry, the regretful, soft imperialist that sells Canadian military barbarism to the public - at a festival for sexual liberation was too much. Me and my friend started giving them the thumbs down sign, booing them and shouting "Canada out of Afghanistan! Get the fuck out of Caledonia!"

Doing more for Pride than the Liberals

For our troubles the young Liberals squirted us with water. Someone behind us told us to stop booing. But then, a couple of people in front of us joined in. And the cheering from the crowd died down. The vibe changed from a party to uncomfortable.

This was a victory. Those Liberal apologists for murder, racism and poverty dared show their treacherous faces at a celebration of resistance. How could they raise their bloodied hands in 'pride', leeching off a movement that had to fight them tooth and nail for legitimacy? Their clueless campaign workers probably think they're doing good for the world because their local candidate, Bill Graham, was the Minister of Defence and openly gay. A gay hand signed the order to begin the killing in Afghanistan, and sent police to train death squads in Haiti. I hope those campaign workers feel disheartened; I hope they look at what the Liberal party's done at home and abroad; I hope they ask themselves what the fuck they're doing in an imperialist party.

But don't get me wrong, Pride left me feeling full of hope. That so many people could come together to celebrate sexual freedom was wonderful. Sure, the activists were great, and the drag queens and goths were hot. But my favourites were the 'Over 40 men's social club' marchers, advertising gay-positive 'card playing and potlucks'; and the wizened old woman from the queer-positive nursing home, who peeked out of a window slit from the disabled access van, her wrinkled face stretched to a big smile.

At times like these I remember my late comrade Torvald. Well, I think about him a lot, but particularly at Pride. He was a Marxist and a queer liberationist. For him, the fight for sexual freedom was intimately bound up with socialism - and since he worked as a top, being bound up was always intimate! The best way I can honour his memory is to protest capitalist and imperialist invasions of the movement he fought for. And to remember that sexual liberation for everyone, gay, straight, whatever, is still very much part of the struggle.