Canada’s Justin Trudeau will become one of the first world leaders to take part in a gay pride march, organisers of the Toronto event have announced.
Mr Trudeau will march in the 3 July parade alongside the city’s mayor and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, the first lesbian premier in Canada.
The newly elected leader tweeted: “Very much looking forward to being there again, this time as PM. #PrideTO.”
Organisers say gay Syrian refugees will also take part, Canadian Press reports.
“[It’s] big news in Canada but big news around the world,” Pride Toronto’s executive director Mathieu Chantelois told BuzzFeed Canada.
“Not only because he is probably the sexiest politician alive but also because there has never been a leader of a country to walk in a parade, at least not that we know of.”
In fact, in 2012 Helle Thorning-Schmidt, then Danish Prime Minister, marched in the Copenhagen Gay Pride Parade.
The Liberal prime minister, whose party now has a majority in the Canadian government, came into power last October, unseating Conservative Stephen Harper after nearly 10 years in office.
Mr Trudeau has made equality a central plank of his tenure – his government is on track to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the month.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory will also take part in the march.
Source – BBC News
