Jimmy Kimmel’s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” is one of our favourite late night talk show segments. Despite some pretty cruel comments, even those on the receiving end can usually afford to react with a laugh.

The same cannot be said for the vitriol Pride Toronto receives on a daily basis – there’s simply nothing funny about the disgusting abuse our gay community endures.

Toronto Star staff recently read aloud a collection of hate messages to members of Pride Toronto organization in order to show the damage such remarks inflict.

The exchanges were documented in a video and included such vile expressions as, “If you were my child and you turned out gay I’d burn you alive.”

“It’s a little surreal, it almost seemed fake to hear the words out loud,” said Michelle Cherny, a member of Pride’s board of directors. “The hate is out there.”

That hate, of course, comes from a place of utmost cowardice – behind a computer screen. And this in one of the most progressive cities in the world, of all places.

So to anyone who still has to ask, “Why do they even need a parade?” – a comparatively mild offence – perhaps your few dozen brain cells can rally together to grasp that this right here is exactly why our queer community needs to be celebrated.

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