'It’s so important': Pride returns to Rogers Centre

TORONTO -- Pride at the ballpark was a lot different 15 years ago.

Today, members of Forte-Toronto Gay Men’s Chorus are welcomed with loud enthusiasm when they take their seats at Rogers Centre after performing the American and Canadian anthems. Back in 2007, when they first did it, the response they got wasn’t that warm.

"One of the members who has done it the whole time, back in 2007, he was telling the story of going to the seats afterwards and people were kind of like, ‘Oh, we’re sitting next to _them_,’” said Aaron Brown, a first-time ballpark anthem singer. “But the last year [the chorus sang at Rogers Centre], it was like, ‘Guys, the choir is sitting next to us!’”

The Blue Jays and their fans have changed with the times.

Three years removed from its last in-stadium Pride celebration, the team converted the party into a whole weekend rather than just one night dedicated to the LGBTQ2S community. A big Progress Flag rustled in the outfield to the underscore of loud applause from the 23,000 fans at Rogers Centre on Friday and Saturday. Drag Queens performed from the Flight Deck, completely clad in rainbow colors, and players warmed up in Pride T-shirts ahead of the game against the Twins.

“It’s so important to us,” said Michelle Seniuk, the Blue Jays’ vice president of fan experience and concessions. “It’s one of my favorite days -- now two days here -- because it just makes you happy. There’s so much kindness and love that comes into the ballpark in a different way.”

This weekend is larger than the 48 hours it will last. It encompasses two full years for a community deprived of celebrating its identity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city of Toronto, largely recognized as an LGBT-friendly environment and home of one of the biggest Pride parades in the world, halted celebrations entirely in 2020 and 2021 as a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Bars and community centers were forced to close their doors, taking away safe spaces from people who often didn’t have other havens.

As the world comes out on the other side and Toronto gears up to resume its in-person celebrations this June, Pride’s strength keeps building.

“Pride Month is always a moment for us to be able to celebrate where we’ve gone as a community and come together,” said Forte member Phil Mahar. “To be able to come back here together, it feels like the last few years didn’t actually happen.”

The Blue Jays didn’t stop at the party element. Toronto partnered up with 519, a local LGBTQ2S group, to give its employees a refresher course on diversity and inclusion. The ballpark already features gender-neutral bathrooms, but more of those were converted to accommodate gender-nonconforming patrons.

It was a big undertaking, with significant learning curves for everyone involved.

“I’ve learned so much,” said Seniuk. “From top to bottom, this is an important environment for everyone to be inclusive. That goes to show a lot of the changes that we’ve made in this sport. There’s a lot to go and a lot of changes still to be made, but we are slowly making those changes for everybody. We’ll keep pushing to be those ambassadors for change.”

Brown and Mahar hope the Blue Jays can set an example for other sports franchises around North America.

“This is now our fourth Pride Night in a row,” said Mahar. “It means that it’s something they believed in from the beginning. It’s not just pinkwashing. … I think it really shows other MLB franchises to really take that space to recognize the community. Because there’s probably members within your team and they can feel included.”

Most MLB teams will feature Pride-related elements in different ways this year, with several clubs carrying on the tradition of Pride Night at the ballpark. The sports world, once largely considered off-limits for gay men especially, is still finding ways to bridge the gap with the community.

Coming together to sing the national anthem is a perfect place to start.

“It’s touching that we share our love of music and that connection with nationality, that it really becomes a moment,” said Mahar. “We always leave a little teary-eyed, because it really makes a difference to the people who watch it from the stands.”