This month and every month, Nellie’s stands with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community here in Toronto and around the world. For years, we have proudly attended the Pride Parade and Dyke March, while also running a booth at the Pride Toronto Street Fair. As we provide programs and services to all women and children experiencing oppression, including violence, poverty, and homelessness, we continuously advocate to empower women and their children to use their voice to speak out and participate in change.
Pride celebrations began as a raid, riot and protest. On June 28, 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn — a gay club in Greenwich Village. A riot broke out, which led to six days of protests and conflict with police.
The following year in Canada, several queer activist organizations organized a picnic to advocate for queer rights, which marked the first celebration of Pride. Over the years, through collective advocacy and political protest, Pride Toronto grew into what we know today — an annual month-long celebration with almost 3 million attendees.
Nellie’s has been participating in Pride Month celebrations for many years. Our digital photo albums take us as far back as 2011, so in honour of Pride, let’s take a brief look through our history:
2011: Accompanied by over 50 of our supporters, staff, volunteers, and residents, Nellie’s walked in the Dyke March in solidarity with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. We also set up a booth at the community fair, where we raised money to support the summer children’s program we were running at the time.
2012: This year, Nellie’s joined in both the Dyke March and the Pride Parade. Throughout the month, we also published a series of Pride-themed blogs written by members of our Social Justice Committee. Here’s one of our favourites about working for trans equality and rights.
2013-2019: Every year, we renewed our support of Pride celebrations with our booth at the Pride Fair, where we handed out information about our programs and services, accepted donations and happily chatted with anyone who stopped by. We also invited our staff, volunteers, supporters and clients to walk with us in the Dyke March every year.
2022-2023: After two years of virtual Pride events and festivities because of the pandemic, we were excited to have a booth at the Pride Fair again, especially during our #Nellies50 year. Nellie’s has been supporting women in the community for 50 years, so this Pride was particularly special to us!
Want to know where you can see and support Nellie’s during Festival Weekend (Friday, June 28, 2024 – Sunday, June 30, 2024) in Toronto?
This year, you can catch Nellie’s marching at the Dyke March on June 29 and at our booth at the Pride Toronto 2024 StreetFair all weekend long. We’ll be handing out information about the shelter, accepting donations, and ready to chat with everyone who stops by.
Nellie’s is proud to be an ally and continuously work toward a world where we can love freely, have autonomy over our own bodies, have equal access to mental health services, and express ourselves openly.
This year’s theme is “Be ______.” So, be yourself, wear your colours, and bring your smiles because you can bet that Nellie’s will be loud and proud this Festival Weekend!