Toronto has a reputation for its grumpy residents. It seems as the temperature rises during the run up to Pride and the G20, folks have taken moody to an entirely new level.
Let’s take my friend for example. Since he’s not a computer savvy person, nor even uses one, I’m going to try to tell his story, as I know it.
While crossing at Church St. and Wellesley, the gay village main intersection, Rob (I’ll call him) noticed a fellow who had charted a course to walk right into him as the pedestrian’s attention was focused on texting. Rob said, “heads up” as he gets out of his way, and the pedestrian yells, “fuck you.”
During this interaction, Rob had stepped slightly in the path of an oncoming wheelchair, which rode over his foot. While riding over his foot a walking cane in the back of the wheelchair popped up and hit this guy on its way back down.
The young fellow (at least younger than my friend) spins around and starts screaming about how Rob just hit a guy in a wheel chair to which he responded, “But you ran over my foot.”
What followed was a verbal assault where wheelchair guy launches into a vitriolic diatribe including “fuck off you fucking AIDS-ridden faggot” and other equally as crossing the line verbiage, all the while starting to go after Rob threatening to hit him with his cane with his phone out saying he was video taping the entire thing and is going to call the police.
For a little context, Rob had a bike accident the week before is a bit black and blue, and feeling, well quite bad and emotionally vulnerable.
Apart from the obvious, the real shame here is that NOBODY on the crowded main street off Gayville intervened, or even cared. I suppose calling guys on Church St. an “AIDS-ridden faggot” is perfectly acceptable today.
For that I say shame.
A less traumatizing incident that falls more in the bizarre category happened yesterday.
While sitting down on a patio for a coffee on Bay St, speaking loudly as there was lots of traffic, someone passing by thinks we are, for some god knows reason, talking about him. As we are sitting there engaged in conversation and doing our own thing, paying no attention anyone else, we are an interrupted with, “Well I don’t want to talk to you, fuck you.”
In our conversation I was speaking about someone and I said to my friend as if I were speaking to that person, “No I don’t want to talk to you.”
Nice.
People…..Chill!
And, when you hear someone verbally abusive calling someone an AIDS infected faggot, especially on Church St., say something. It seems people care too much about issues such as “Queers Against Apartheid” to care about our own community.
Yes I’m fully aware that last statement will bring out the worst in people thus proving my point.
