By 4pm on Thursday, June 28 the patio of The Vic is packed with swell fellas swallowing succulent morsels. One gulp. It’s a perfect sunny day to sit  -- or stand, because it's so full -- and enjoy a cocktail or 12. It’s also the perfect place and time to watch as the madness that is Pride begins to unfold on Church St. Pride flags are being unfurled, drag queens are zooming by with their suitcases on wheels and guys are hiking up their shorts. Speaking of shorts, it is also the fifth-anniversary party for ProudFM. And the main draw is a tempting underwear fashion show by Joe Boxer.

Even though ProudFM is no longer located at the corner of Church and Wellesley, it is still part of our community. Which is why they are having their party right smack dab in the centre of it. Radio host, and today's MC, Mike Chalut -- you know how he do -- is running around with a clipboard looking very busy. Very busy. Tynomi Banks performs onstage with her bevy of backup dancers. Great number, killer choreography, but most are now on the edge of their sticky seats eager to ogle the Joe Boxer underwear models gathering near the stage.

Watching are John Kenyon, JP Ricchio and Kontent Publishing’s Michael King, who keeps looking better and better even as the salt and pepper overtakes and spices up his hair. They down shots of tequila in preparation for the show. The models are all picture perfect, their bubble butts threatening to devour everyone’s zoom lenses. 

But aside from their backsides, the anniversary party also celebrates the important work done by Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). Adorable couple Irene and Gary Miller (who celebrated their first Pride together in San Francisco during the days of Harvey Milk) appear onstage with other members of their organization to the thunderous cheers of the patio people. Having a supportive family, as we all know, is so important to the future well-being of any child.

And if those birthday packages (aka underwear) aren’t enough, the icing on the cake arrives in the form of birthday cupcakes, which the models hand out to the hungry (and perhaps now horny) crowd. Children innocently lick the icing off the top of one at one table while at another a couple uses their icing as some sort of erotic public foreplay. Good wholesome family fun. “This is our Pride family,” beams Mike Chalut. And so begins Pride 2012.

proudfm.com, torontopflag.org, joeboxer.ca

Photos by Rolyn Chambers