I'm tired of white straight cis men speaking over my metis gender fluid lesbian voice.

To put an individual that has never been marginalized in his life as the representative for an lgbtqia+ event is ludicrous. If you really want to spread awareness to the sports community in particular, find an athelete that is not only successful, but also thrives despite being part of a marginalized group. They aren’t hard to find, you just have to put some actual effort into what you claim is supposed to be a pride event.

While I agree it's great to have vocal allies at pride I feel it's inappropriate to have a straight cis man lead it. While I appreciate that he has been a great ally having him lead the parade silences queer voices, it's saying that straight cis people can/should speak instead of us. Furthermore, I feel that this also silences asexuals specifically. Having an ally lead pride reiterates the idea that the A in LGBTQIA stands for ally, not asexual. While I appreciate Jon Ryan's work as an ally, as a cis straight man he can't fully understand the struggle that every member of the lgbtqia+ community goes through. Every sexual and gender minority has fought to feel safe and to be able to be themselves, we have fought for the right to represent ourselves, and not be represented by someone who has not experienced oppression and can never fully understand our experiences.

This breaks my heart. Change.