Rob Ford will once again skip the Pride Parade in Toronto. Asked about the event during a debate last night, the Mayor made his intentions clear, and notably without reference to his customary excuse that he makes a family trip on the weekend of the parade. "I'm not going to go to the Pride parade," Ford said in response to a direct question. "I've never gone to a Pride parade. So I'm not going to change the way I am."

There's a lot to learn about Ford's identity politics in that last statement. The more obvious response, of course, would have been to say "I'm not going to change what I do" -- but for Ford, attendance at the parade would seem to represent both a political and existential crisis of some kind. In fairness, his attendance might actually change who Rob Ford is, but only insofar as it would reveal an individual who is less stubborn and more open to representing his diverse constituency.

While it should be noted that Ford has attended PFLAG ceremonies at city hall in both 2012 and 2013, his unwillingness to show up at such a crucial event as World Pride represents a failure of leadership, one which cautions against any notion that a year of scandal has worn away at his notorious inflexibility.

Photo by Richard Gottardo