People march in the Toronto Pride Parade on Sunday, June 29, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey

TORONTO — The clouds menacing next year's Pride celebrations in Toronto were nowhere in sight for this year's festivities on Sunday as tens of thousands of revellers filled city streets with rainbow hues and expressions of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.

Organizers of the city's annual, month-long Pride festival have sounded the early alarm about a financial shortfall for next year, indicating festivities may need to be scaled back accordingly.

But Sunday's march — which unfolded under ideal summertime conditions and was expected to draw about 25,000 participants — produced all the pomp and spectacle residents have come to expect from Pride's grand finale.

For Cassidy Monroe, who danced in the parade for a second year in a row, the parade is a blast that brings people together in celebration.

"Seeing everybody coming out, waving and being so supportive and so happy, it's just amazing … With all the things going on in the world, I feel like we need Pride even more," said Monroe, sporting a neon outfit.

Loudly celebrating Pride sends the message that LGBTQ+ are "here and we belong and we matter," the dancer added.

Anishnawbe Health Toronto led Sunday's parade with a colourful hand-painted float and group of dancers, drummers and DJs.

Participant Cheryl Trudeau said the group was there "to show … that we are open and accepting. That all of our members are part of our community."

"And we want to represent the '2S' in the LGBTQ2S+," added Enya Pinesse, also walking with the group, referring to the Indigenous two-spirit identity.

Anold Mulaisho, who was attending Pride Toronto for the third time this year, spent nearly three months planning and assembling an outfit for the occasion.

Mulaisho walked and danced in the parade wearing large white angel wings, a rainbow bandana around their head and a rainbow fan in their hand with big block letters spelling "QUEER"

"I made them (the wings) from scratch, it's all handmade. It was something I had to put together," Mulaisho said.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said personal parade highlights included drag performances and seeing the many organizations who showed up to support the LGBTQ+ community, "especially trans kids who are having a rough time."

"Whether it's in the city or down south in the U.S., we want to show lots of love and justice for the trans community, especially the young people," she said.

Sunday's event saw marchers from some 250 groups make their way from the city's Rosedale neighbourhood through the downtown core to Nathan Phillips Square, filling the air with bubbles and sidewalks and roads with confetti.

The parade, which features participation from groups including firefighters, librarians and tech companies, has historically served as Canada’s biggest show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. It’s been an annual summer fixture in Toronto since 1981, when the first Pride parade was born out of protests linked to the city’s bathhouse raids.

Since then it’s grown steadily in scope and prominence, blossoming into a full month of activities that draw people to the Church-Wellesley area, which is known as the gay village.

But that status has recently come under threat.

In the lead up to this year’s parade, Pride Toronto executive director Kojo Modeste warned next year's Pride will likely be scaled down if organizers can’t drum up more financial support.

“One hundred per cent, Pride will look a lot smaller,” Modeste said in mid-June. “We would not have the same impact, both financially and culturally, that we normally do.”

Earlier this year, Modeste revealed organizers were facing a $900,000 funding gap, citing rising costs and the loss of sponsors like Google, Nissan, Home Depot and Clorox.

Modeste attributed the pullback to backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that materialized in the U.S. and beyond under President Donald Trump.

Jide Macaulay, who attended Toronto Pride for the first time this year, said it was disappointing to hear about the pullback of sponsors.

"It is a shame on them, to be quite honest," Macaulay said. "Many LGBTQ people are gifted and we work with these big companies. So what are they going to do to support us?"

In the wake of the pullback, others stepped up. Some 175 people have donated close to $10,000, Pride Toronto has said.

The city also named the organization a multi-year recipient of cash through a festival funding program, which hands out $350,000.

Modeste has said this funding is “going to go a long way,” but doesn’t eliminate the need for other levels of government to pitch in.

“What we need to see is the province and the federal government taking lead from the city and following up and also providing some support,” said Modeste.

Sunday's parade included corporate brand representation from Staples, Trojan, KitKat, Rogers, TikTok and Jean Paul Gaultier. While Google dropped out of the parade, there were two Google-branded pedal pubs present.

Pro-Ukraine and pro-Iran groups marched while chanting for peace. A float from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs was part of the parade too, flanked by a group of about 14 security guards.

—With files from Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax and Vanessa Tiberio in Toronto

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025