{"id":1794,"date":"2023-06-01T12:28:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T12:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citizenrelprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1794"},"modified":"2023-12-20T12:47:48","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T12:47:48","slug":"citizen-insider-pride-privilege-hear-it-toronto-og","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citizenrelations.com\/en\/citizen-insider-pride-privilege-hear-it-toronto-og\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizen Insider: PRIDE Privilege – Hear It From A Toronto OG"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we kick off PRIDE Month, we recognize that Pride means a lot of different things to a lot of people and there is no one experience that defines the community. Today, we hear one of those experiences from our Managing Director, Experiential, Kevin Wagman, as he shares what PRIDE means to him and how he celebrates in Toronto, Canada.<\/em><\/p>\n

I consider myself at this point in life to be an \u201cOG\u201d \u2013\u00a0Original Gay.<\/em>\u00a0 (Really, that\u2019s just an age thing.) And with my OG status, I\u2019ve been afforded certain privileges over the years, which I have come to embrace.<\/p>\n

A few privileges that come to mind include being at Toronto PRIDE in the ’90s before it was mainstream and just a handful of blocks of Church Street, watching the PRIDE flag raised at City Hall in Toronto for the first time in 1993 on the \u201ccourtesy flagpole\u201d and finally, watching the movie Torch Song Trilogy at the Carlton Theatre back in high school – the first time I ever saw a gay content movie (though full of stereotypes) with characters and actors that were \u201clike me\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After\u00a028\u00a0years of celebrating Toronto PRIDE, and having the privilege of seeing our community grow, it\u2019s amazing how different it\u2019s looked over the last few years. From no parades in 2020 to being fully \u2018back outside\u2019 last year, this year, I\u2019ve reflected on what PRIDE actually means to me.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. PRIDE is about acknowledging the choice of freedom that I have. I\u2019m privileged\u00a0 to live in Toronto, a city that celebrates our history and preserves our\u00a0landmarks<\/u><\/a>, even if just recently<\/li>\n
  2. PRIDE is about being able to wear whatever I like and not be judged for it \u2013 including very short shorts and very tight Ts (in the ’90s, at least). Fashion is such an integral part of queer culture, whether it\u2019s in the form of drag, camp fashion or gender-fluid clothing.\u00a0 In the\u00a0 words of Ru Paul \u201cwe\u2019re all born naked and the rest is just drag\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. PRIDE is about family, not just the ones you\u2019re born into, but the family that you choose\u00a0 \u2013 my friends who love me unconditionally (and ok, let\u2019s be honest, sometimes with conditions). Our chosen family are the community that rejoices with and for you – especially in those times we\u2019ve had to hide who we are<\/li>\n
  4. PRIDE is about acknowledging that while we revel in recent medical vaccine breakthroughs, every year more people around the globe \u2013 including my friends – continue to contract HIV, and worse, are stigmatized for it despite leading perfectly normal lives<\/li>\n
  5. PRIDE is about recognizing that identities are constantly evolving and there\u2019s always room for more. I used to belong to the LGB community which is now\u00a0 the 2SLGBTQI+ community and hey – the more the merrier.\u00a0 It\u2019s about realizing that there is space for everyone on this colourful spectrum and no one experience is taking away from another<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Right now, the community is going through a tough time around the world. We\u2019re seeing growing intolerance and bigotry, even with something as simple as PRIDE decorations. So I understand if \u2018privilege\u2019 isn\u2019t a word that immediately comes to mind for many this month. But we can\u2019t forget how far we\u2019ve come and to celebrate the strides the community has made – and it\u2019s made MANY.\u00a0 So this OG feels privileged.<\/p>\n

    However you choose to celebrate, have a fabulous PRIDE month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As we kick off PRIDE Month, we recognize that Pride means a lot of different things to a lot of people and there is no one experience that defines the community. Today, we hear one of those experiences from our Managing Director, Experiential, Kevin Wagman, as he shares what PRIDE means to him and how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCitizen Insider: PRIDE Privilege - Hear It From A Toronto OG | Citizen Relations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citizenrelations.com\/en\/citizen-insider-pride-privilege-hear-it-toronto-og\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Citizen Insider: PRIDE Privilege - Hear It From A Toronto OG | Citizen Relations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As we kick off PRIDE Month, we recognize that Pride means a lot of different things to a lot of people and there is no one experience that defines the community. 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