Toronto Gay Pride Parade Click on a picture to see a bigger
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Yes, this was the year that the police decided they needed a test case -- and made some arrests. In order to avoid influencing the court cases, we held off posting these photos for several months. But now that the case has been withdrawn, the truth can be told.
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"It's really easy to tell who they are..." said my friend, referring to undercover cops near the nude contingent as the parade formed. "Just look over there!" I looked, and he was right. So here, mingled amongst our regular photos (and from the safe legal haven of a foreign country), we present a series of photos of the police -- uniformed and ununiformed -- who wasted everyone's time watching, photographing, and eventually arresting 7 gay nudists who just wanted the world to renounce body shame. The individuals identified with red arrows in these photos were identified on the basis of their participation in the arrest and booking at the end of the parade. There may be others whom we have not identified. Those with arrows and a question mark are almost certainly NOT police; they are people I wondered about in the course of following the actual cops along the parade route. I now believe that the question-mark individuals were taking photos for their own, non-police purposes (although, of course, I can't be sure). I nevertheless identified them in these photos to give you a taste of what it feels like to wonder, suspect, and in general get paranoid about everyone around you. |
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Now here's an interesting question. The police here seem to have a fondness for this green bug. They lean on it, they walk alongside it, they talk to the driver, they help toss out packets of stuff (lube, whatever). Was the green-bug contingent part of the police's effort? Formally, probably not. Perhaps they co-opted it on the spur of the moment, just because it was there. Or possibly I'm just being overly paranoid. However, some of the actions captured in these photos would be against the policy of some police forces in the U.S. In some cities, police are forbidden while on duty to perform any action which would seem to indicate that they are members of a group they are not members of. That would mean no distributing green-bug packets, for example. I don't know of Toronto's police work under the same restriction. |
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Buddies in Bad Times Theater again...
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We now return you to our regularly scheduled photographs....
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These guys were dancing while having huge bulges under their towels. But when they flashed us, it turns out they were covered up underneath, too. What a disappointment! |
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They presumably knew that uniformed and plain clothes police were about to fall in after the naked contingent, then arrest them at the end of the next block. The noose tightens... |
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Arrests! Controversy! Court dates! |
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And below are the ones who are pretty clearly identified as
law enforcement. 
