Toronto police officers want city to scrap Pride funding

Pressure is mounting on the city of Toronto to deny Pride Toronto its annual $260,000 grant.

Last month, Councillor John Campbell (Ward 4) announced he was working on a motion to cut this yearly funding after Pride Toronto banned police participation in the event's marquee parade. Five other councillors supported this proposed motion as well.

Now, as CP24 writes today, the union that represents Toronto police officers (the Toronto Police Association) is now asking the city to drop the $260,000 grant.

According to CP24, members of the Toronto Police Services Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer internal support network released a letter today.

"At our request, we would like the association to consider sharing with the mayor and city councillors that we, as city employees, would feel completely de-valued and unsupported by our employer should they fund this event at this time," reads the letter, reports CP24.

"How can we possibly feel appreciated by our employer while they sponsor an event that its own employees have been disinvited from participating in as full, equal, and active participants in their role as city employees?" it continues.

At its annual general meeting in January, Pride Toronto members voted to accept a series of demands issued by Black Lives Matter at last year's parade, including banning police officers from the Pride Parade.

Last month, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said Toronto police wouldn't be marching in this year's parade.

The agenda for the next city council meeting on April 26 hasn't been released yet, so it's unclear whether or not Campbell's motion will be on the docket.

Pride month kicks off on June 1.