Ford has never attended a Pride parade in Toronto previously, but usually blamed it on schedule conflicts: In 2013, he told reporters "If it lands on the same weekend when I take my family up north, unfortunately, my family comes first." In 2011, he used the same excuse, recalling “Since I was a little boy, we always used to go up north to our cottage, and I’m carrying on the tradition that my father had.”

After being pressured by his own brother, city councilman Doug Ford, and the deputy mayor, Ford did finally attend a Pride-flag-raising event at City Hall in last year. "He's not homophobic. He has friends that are gay," said Doug Ford, who won't be attending World Pride either. "Do I condone men running down the street buck naked? No I do not."

World Pride is an annual 10-day festival held in a different city every year. It's expected to draw hundreds of thousands of tourists to Toronto, the first North American city to host the event, and generate millions in revenue. This year's celebration begins June 20, with a parade on June 29.

Mayor Ford, who admitted to using crack cocaine and has had much of his authority removed by the Toronto city council, has been opposed to same-sex marriage and LGBT equality. In June 2006, Ford opposed the city donating $1.5 million toward AIDS prevention, saying "If you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn't get AIDS probably, that's bottom line...those are the facts."

We can assume Toronto's LGBT community will be devastated by  his absence.