On Sunday afternoon, the city of Toronto hosted Canada's largest pride parade, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was one of the many marchers participating in the event. Indeed, a widely-shared photo of Trudeau at Toronto's pride parade is receiving a great deal of attention on social media, with many praising the PM for his advocacy around LGBTQ rights.
As Laura Olin, the Twitter user who posted the widely-shared photo, noted, the image features a rainbow sock-wearing Trudeau high-fiving a little girl dressed as Wonder Woman during the pride parade on Sunday. In the photo, both Trudeau and the child appear gleeful — and many Twitter users reacted in a similar fashion.
Multiple Twitter users noted that they were "jealous of Canada" and desirous of Trudeau's style of leadership. Others noted that they "love[d] him" and thought the Prime Minister was "fabulous."
Several users also took particular notice of Trudeau's socks, which, upon closer examination, seemed to mark the occasion of Eid, a Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan, as, according to one Twitter user, they had the phrase "Eid Mubarak!" inscribed on them in Arabic.
Other Twitter users also responded to the photo by posting more photos of Trudeau at the parade. Several of the photos featured Trudeau joyously hugging parade-goers, while others showed Trudeau taking selfies with parade attendees.
This year's pride parade marks the second one attended by Trudeau. Last year, Trudeau became the first-ever sitting Canadian Prime Minister to march in a pride parade. Trudeau attended this year's event with his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and their children Xavier and Ella-Grace.
According to the Toronto Star, Trudeau spoke with several media outlets before the event and expressed his strong support for the festivities as well as for Canada's LGBTQ community:
This is all about including people. ... It's all about how we celebrate the multiple layers of identities that make Canada extraordinary and strong, and today we celebrate with the entire LGBTQ community.
The Star also noted that Trudeau wished the crowd a happy "Pride Mubarak," as a playful way of recognizing both the pride celebration and the Eid holiday.
Trudeau's attendance at this year's pride parade readily aligns with his long history of staunchly supporting and advocating for LGBTQ rights throughout his tenure as Prime Minister. Indeed, Pink News reported that, earlier this month, Trudeau honored Pride Month by raising the rainbow flag over Parliament Hill.
The Prime Minister also participated in a pride month ceremony in mid-June, where he vowed to continue to fight for LGBTQ equality. During the ceremony, Trudeau noted that the Canadian parliament would be introducing legislation that would allow would those who were convicted under former Canadian laws that prohibited sexual activity with a same-sex partner to have those convictions erased, calling the former laws "unjust."
Overall, the widely-publicized photo of Trudeau at this year's Toronto pride seems to visually capture the Canadian Prime Minister's openness and penchant for advocacy around LGBTQ issues. This likely explains why so many people seem to be drawn to the photo, as it currently has nearly 5,000 shares and 14,000 favorites on Twitter.
