Gay lawyer Martin Gladstone is ending his campaign for a Toronto city council seat in Ward 32, reports The Globe and Mail. 

Xtra spoke to Gladstone this summer:

As the creator of Reclaiming Our Pride, a documentary film condemning the parade's inclusion of protest group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, Gladstone led the charge against Pride Toronto, backed by mayoral candidates Rob Ford and Giorgio Mammoliti.

Gladstone decided to run in July, he says, but not so he could vote on Pride funding. "No, no, I'm running on local issues down here," he insists, feeling that his advocacy on the QuAIA issue can rest.

"I'm optimistic that the community is in a healing phase," Gladstone says. "I understand that [Pride Toronto] has a few community leaders like Brent Hawkes and Doug Elliott stepping up to the plate, and I'm very confident they'll find some community-based solutions. I think we all have an interest in making sure our Pride is successful and works for everybody... preserving all the gains we've made over the years."

The lone dissenting vote in the 35-1 city council vote placing caveats on Pride funding was from Ward 32 Councillor Sandra Bussin. But again, Gladstone says he's not running against her because of her politics but because of her attitude. 

Gladstone is endorsing Mary-Margaret McMahon, in an effort to unseat incumbent Sandra Bussin.

>> Read Xtra's Ward 27 cover story

At a press event outside Toronto City Hall today, mayoral candidate Rob Ford embraced the endorsement of a fundamentalist Christian pastor who says Pride is "immoral" and suggests that the "moral foundation" of society is being dismantled by gay marriage.

Asked by a reporter if he supports gay marriage, Ford said: "No, I support traditional marriage. I always have, but if people want, to each their own. I'm not worried about what people do in their private life. I look out for taxpayers' money, and to each his own when it comes to what happens behind closed doors."

Ford made the comments at a presser where Rev Wendell Brereton announced that he was dropping out of the mayoral race and throwing his support behind Ford. Brereton is now running for council in Ward 6.

Watch a clip of the event below (Ford's comments about gay marriage start at 1:05):   

Rob Ford offered a staged an emotional apology to PWAs May 10, at the home of an Etobicoke gay man, Dieter Doneit-Henderson.

In 2006, Ford opposed funding for AIDS service organizations in Toronto on the basis that “If you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn’t get AIDS probably.” Ford made the comments as a city councillor; now, he is a candidate in the 2010 Toronto mayoralty race.

A Toronto Star writer and photographer were on hand. The Star described the scene as “bizarre.”

Doneit-Henderson was once touted to be the first openly HIV-positive candidate to run in the province. The Star reports that he ran provincially for the NDP in 2007. We took a look at the provincial and federal election results in Carleton Mississippi Mills and haven’t found his name on the ballot.

Photo CC Road Dog, courtesy of Flickr