LGBTQ+ activists are organizing Pro-Palestine Pride, and demanding mainstream events cut ties with sponsors complicit in Israel’s assault on Gaza

According to Bain in Toronto, a reliance on funding from corporations and the Canadian government has made pride festivals and other major LGBTQ+ organizations, like Egale and Rainbow Canada, beholden to those funders.

“They are forced into silence,” Bain said, referring to mainstream Pride organizers. “They have chosen to be silent as well, because they have chosen to accept the funding. And they have chosen to align themselves with state policies that actually support Israel, and then also support the pinkwashing that Israel does.”