NewmarketToday continues its annual tradition of marking the giving season by celebrating Newmarket's Community Angels — the people whose kindness, compassion and community spirit help make our town one of the best to live in the country.
Newmarket resident Jacob Gal has been with York Pride since he was just 18 years old and has seen a lot of growth since then — both with the cause and personally.
"When I first started in the end of 2012, beginning of 2013, we didn't have anything that was like a big event that was drawing lots of people and lots of attention," he said.
It wasn't until one of its partner organizations, CAYR community connections, suggested a Pride parade that the signature event of York Pride's calendar was born.
Gal, now 27, was part of the team that organized Pride in the Park in 2015 and the first Pride parade, which both took place in Richmond Hill. But he said there were some speed bumps.
"We just didn't have the support from the BIA the businesses. There were a few businesses that were very instrumental in the growth... but everyone else we'd walk in with a letter and we'd be shooed out," he said.
Then in 2017, York Pride made the move to Newmarket and was immediately welcomed with open arms by local businesses and the town.
"Our first year (brought out) 3,000 people, and then every year, it just kind of tripled, quadrupled, and just got bigger and bigger," Gal said.
Along with the parade, York Pride also began hosting Pride on Riverwalk, with live entertainment and vendors to round out the Pride Festival that is held every year in June. On top of that, by 2019 or 2020, all nine municipalities in York Region were raising Pride flags in June.
While York Pride has grown, so has Gal. He came out as gay when he was in Grade 11 and said it was a rough two years.
"I'm not going, it was very awkward at home and my parents didn't know what to say," he said.
However, that has since changed and Gal said his parents are supportive and loving and always come out to Pride and help build the floats and volunteer.
"Most families don't get where we are right now. They continue to dislike the fact that their kid is queer and they continue to make things awkward or they don't have a close relationship. And for me, I think that's so, so sad because there are so many cool people in our region," he said.
He credits their closeness now with continuing to connect and have a dialogue and learn from each other. It was the same for kids with whom he went to high school.
Gal said he recalls the homophobia at high school and a lot of people who didn't like gay people or understand them. Instead of avoiding those people, he would invite them to his house parties, which he loved hosting.
"I invited them out to the party because I wanted them to meet some other cool gay people that I think they would've got along with. And yeah, the first year party was kind of rough. We had one fight and some people didn't get along, but I invited the same people back and I encouraged mingling and I encouraged party games and other things. And over a course of five years of running these parties, people built lifelong friendships out of this," he said.
That love of party planning has carried Gal into his role in development and communications at York Pride and his current studies at Fanshaw College, where he is working toward a two-year diploma program in special events.
"It's always been in my blood to connect people," he said.
That's what he aims to do with York Pride and he said the organization has exciting things planned for the upcoming year.
In February, there will be Skate for Pride, which is in support of Georgina Pride, then the annual Pride Festival in Newmarket in June, later in August there will be Wonder Pride at Canada's Wonderland, and then a special HallowQueen event will be taking place in October, as a ticketed 19+ event.
"Our biggest goal right now is to make York Region a destination for 2SLGBT experiences. We still want to be a platform for education, but we really want to change how people experience our events," Gal said.
The organization is also preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025 and Gal said preparations are already underway for that and he wants it to be the best it can be.
