Whoops!

Looks like you have stumbled on the unstyled version of Equal Ground. This could be corrected simply by refreshing your browser. If this message persists, you may need to upgrade your browser. We reccomend using the Mozilla browser. On rare occasions, CSS or Style Sheets may be disabled on your browser, you will need to enable styles if you wish to browse the site as intended.

Even in this state, the site is 100% accessible. Nothing from the intended experience is sacrificed, save for the design. Skip to: the menu | the content

Sri Lankan as Grand Marshal of Toronto Pride!

One of the largest PRIDE celebrations in the world, Toronto Pride, has selected Rosanna Flamer-Caldera as its International Grand Marshal for PRIDE week 2007. Rosanna has the unique honour of leading this year's Pride Parade in Toronto.

"What an honour to be the standard barer for LGBT in Sri Lanka and Asia. I am so thrilled and excited to be at Toronto Pride and to be chosen as the Grand Marshal...well it's a dream come true!" said Rosanna.

rfcpride.jpg

Rosanna is the Executive Director of EQUAL GROUND and is the current Female Co-Secretary General of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA).

Pride Week is an event held in Toronto, Ontario during the last week of June each year. It is a celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area. It is the one of the largest organized Gay Pride festivals in the world (over 2 million attended in 2006), featuring several stages with live performers and DJs, several licensed venues, a large Dyke March, and the Pride Parade. The epicenter of Pride Week is the city's Church and Wellesley village, and both the Dyke March and the main Pride Parade are primarily routed along the nearby Yonge Street.

Pride Week is organized by Pride Toronto, a non-profit volunteer organization. A small number of staff support 20-30 volunteer committee coordinators, each responsible for an aspect of the festival or of the organisation's year-round activities.

Main events of Pride Week include the Dyke March and the Pride parade, the latter having some 400,000 in attendance in 2004.

Toronto's Pride Week evolved out of the mass protests that followed the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids, and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005. In the 2005 parade, newly appointed Toronto police chief Bill Blair became the first chief of police in the city's history to personally take part in the parade.

In 2006, Pride Week was held from June 19 to June 25. The 2006 theme for Pride Week was "Fearless".