On Thursday, February 11, 2010, Pride Toronto held its first General Meeting of 2010. While there was the usual business of reviewing financials and approving by-law amendments, the majority of the meeting was spent announcing many of the impressive new undertakings that Pride Toronto has in the works.

Jim Cullen, this year's new male-identified Board Co-chair, spoke of the newly-formed Community Outreach Committee that will work with Pride Toronto's staff and the community. This new committee has been working on hosting focus groups, and on improving communication, transparency, and access. It is also a participant on the public forum on http://www.pridetoronto.com, where members of the community can ask questions and will receive responses.

Tracey Sandilands, Pride Toronto's Executive Director, provided the buzz on some of the new initiatives being taken on by the organization this year: the new 40+ Committee; the Youth Committee focusing more on youth under 19; the week of planned events for What Out Is About, Pride Toronto's global human rights program; the addition of "Allies" to the acronym (now LGBTTIQQ2SA); the new Purchasing and Procurement Policy that was recently approved by the Board (available online); and perhaps the most exciting, the festival site expansion to include Queen's Park in 2010.

"Church and Wellesley will always be the heart of the festival," said Sandilands. "But as Pride continues to grow, the site also has to grow and expand." Final details have not been put in place as of yet, but the expansion will hopefully include one of the eight stages, as well as part of the Street Fair.

Matthew Cutler, recipient of the Pride Toronto Award of Excellence in Youth Leadership at the 5th Annual Gala and Awards in 2009, presented the new process for selection of honoured positions for the 2010 festival. The new process involves a vote from a jury of peers made up of previous Pride award winners. Members at the General Meeting were quick to show their support, speaking out in favour of the new process.

Pride Toronto's new Marketing and Communications Manager, Michael Ain, then launched the 2010 Opportunity Guide, "a one-stop information source" for community groups, businesses, or individuals wanting to take part in the Marketplace, Community Fair, Food Vendor area, etc. The Opportunity Guide can be found in digital format on http://www.pridetoronto.com.

Finally, Mark Singh, former Co-chair and current Board Member, presented a shortened version of Pride Toronto's bid for WorldPride 2014. Taking place June 27 to July 5 2014, WorldPride in Toronto will include a large human rights conference.

"The organization's mission supports international queer human rights," said Singh. And the people of Toronto have been behind this initiative since the beginning - after only 2 weeks on Facebook, the WorldPride 2014 fan page had over 5000 members. The WorldPride Bid Book is available for download on Pride Toronto's website. You can share your ideas for WorldPride 2014 on Facebook, Pride Toronto's new web forum under http://www.pridetoronto.com/forums, and Twitter.

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- By Crystal Moore, Media Coordinator, Pride Toronto