Posted on 06/20/2006 9:09:20 PM PDT by Heartofsong83
Pride Festival Denied Funding Josh Pringle Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Organizers of Ottawa-Gatineau Pride Week say the future of the festival is in jeopardy.
The comments were made after a City of Ottawa committee rejected a request for 20 million dollars in emergency funding.
The Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee did approve 30-thousand dollars in city services and debt forgiveness.
Vice-Chair of the Pride Week Committee Tamara Stammis says the board will have to meet to decide their next step.
Stammis says the cash request was an important element for the festival.
Councillor Diane Holmes tells CFRA News "is this a matter of prejudice or not? I certainly hope not. But it certainly doesn't look good when we have supported and provided for two festivals that were also in sort of extreme circumstances."
The City of Ottawa recently provided funding to the Canadian Tulip Festival and the Franco-Ontarien festival.
"What's wrong with the gays paying for their own parade?"
[chuckles, contemplating responses]
a.) Yeah, it's not like it'd be the first time they had to suck it up themselves!
b.) Yeah, they should bend over and take it.
c.) Probably they were raised to expect more from government. See, it's all about the way they were reared.
d.) Oh, right, like it was all about the PARADE--as if they were going to march in a straight line!
"D" - final answer.
"Uhhhh, Go slow when you explain the 'emergency' nature of a 'festival' of any sort... Is the funnel cake franchise in trouble? The Leather Booth ready to topple? What sort of 'emergency' could require TWENTY MILLION? O Canaduh!"
They probably realized that nobody had ordered drapes for the parade route--you CAN'T have a PARADE without DRAPES, you SAVAGE! [/swishy wedding coordinator voice]
Attendance at last year's Ottawa Pride event: ~28,000. It would be HUGE to see it cancelled.
I always hate when they try to compare the Ottawa event to the Toronto or Montreal or New York events (as some mention in the documents). They really should be comparing to similar-sized cities.
In Canada, they are Calgary and Edmonton.
In the US, they are Austin, Birmingham, Buffalo, Charlotte, Columbus, Hartford, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Portland, Rochester, Salt Lake City and San Antonio.
20 million dollars would make one hell of a party
May this be the start of a trend. "Gay" pride parads cancelled all over the place. Nice.
The key is getting city councils defunding them, since they can seldom sustain themselves. I've read that they were almost entirely dependent on government funding...
Another article I found said that "Ottawa’s gay pride committee is encountering a difficult time locating sponsors for the annual event."
http://www.247gay.com/article.cfm?section=66&id=9245
May I say "Ha ha!"? Can't find sponsors, a smile plays about the lips...
:-]
Oh dear! Are they going to cry now since the queers didn't get their way?
For a bloody parade?
Most of the money is for vaseline and diaper wipes.
Back in the mid-90s I saw stats on the differences between the average household and the average gay household. The gay average income was well over $20,000 higher than the average. I'd suspect things are similar in Canada, so the money's there.
$20 mil for queers and perverts? Glad I don't live in Ottawa.
I think those stats are probably more due to inaccurate data collection and polling than anything else. The distribution of wealth among homosexuals is probably closer to the norm. I'm sure having more money makes it easier to come out of the closet, so the homosexuals most available for polling are those who feel they can afford shaking things up.
$20 million? That's a HUGE piece of tax dollars for a parade. What's the justification?
It was $20K not $20M? Slight different there! $20,000 is pocket change to a major city. That's probably not an unreasonable cost of a major event.
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