Guest authoring for PositiveLite.com, Raymond Helkio says that despite Toronto’s awful mayor Rob Ford, the city now has a chance to redeem itself in the global LGBT rights dialogue that is WorldPride 2014.
How many saints, martyrs and human rights activists do we have locked up in Canada right now? More importantly how many of them would we even recognize as a martyr or saint? Think of Nelson Mandela, the revered President of South Africa who spent 27 years in prison. Being considered a criminal appears to be the price one pays for the rest of us to benefit at a later date – or does it have to be this way? Can we as citizens separate the politicians that demonstrate moral courage from those that just speak political rhetoric? Cities, towns and communities owe it to themselves to put thier most morally courageous people into the positions of power or risk progress altogether. Just look at Toronto who has made international headlines for its bumbling mayor, Rob Ford. But even having foolish mayor is has proven to be a bit of a gift for Toronto because it’s the best wake-up call a city could ask for. Canadian politics in general just haven’t been that interesting to the rest of the world and why should it be when we Canadians haven’t been that interested either, until now. Read the full article.
Rolyn, Stephanie, Kristyn, Scott: What do global LGBT human rights mean to you? from Raymond Helkio on Vimeo.