How Safe Is Toronto?

I'm curious about how safe things are in Toronto these days. Living on the west coast here I'm from a fairly small redneck type biker city that's not exactly the most open place in the world. I'm extremely open about where I go and what I do and have yet to run into anything more than dirty looks..

I tend to not be overly cautious and I'm not fearful of where I go. I am curious though as to how accepting Torontonians are in general to the trans community when out and about not in the gay district..

Dirty looks and the odd rude comment don't really bother me much, I'm more concerned about areas where there's gang violence, general intolerance to the LGBT community or any other things a person might have to worry about..

It's been quite a while since I was in TO..

[Locomotion]

I'm curious about how safe things are in Toronto these days. Living on the west coast here I'm from a fairly small redneck type biker city that's not exactly the most open place in the world. I'm extremely open about where I go and what I do and have yet to run into anything more than dirty looks..

I tend to not be overly cautious and I'm not fearful of where I go. I am curious though as to how accepting Torontonians are in general to the trans community when out and about not in the gay district..

Dirty looks and the odd rude comment don't really bother me much, I'm more concerned about areas where there's gang violence, general intolerance to the LGBT community or any other things a person might have to worry about..

It's been quite a while since I was in TO..

I'm from Toronto originally. Like any city, if you're TG it's probably best to stick to the downtown area, especially Church Street. It's a predominantly gay area but there are also a lot of TGs living there ... so more accepting crowd, so it's the safest area.

By all means avoid anywhere in the vicinity of Jane & Finch, it is and always has been a dangerous sewer in that area, gangs and other low life morons killing each other off.

You will encounter occasional drunken thugs on late night subways and busses, especially after midnight since the bars close at 1am as does the transit ... which has never made sense to me ... unless someone in Toronto city council has put their brain cells together and figured 2am would be a better transit cut off time to accommodate all the drunks?

Anyways, that's my view of TO and I'm stickin' to it!

[Rockheart]

Toronto has to have the highest gay population in Canada for sure.
They have one of the largest gay neighbourhood in the world.
Unfortunately, while TG's are fairly accepted by the gay community, there is still a large amount of discrimination within that group towards them.
As stated the further you stray from the core, the worse the discrimination and misunderstanding will get. However in the core of Toronto most are fairly safe.
There is the losers that come in from the Burbs though.

It is still possible Toronto is not as safe as Vancouver.
Vancouverites are very accepting, more than other places I think.

Vancouver is full of weirdos and cast outs, so people that are not the same as others blend in very well here. I am not calling TG's weirdos, I am just saying they are different than the mainstream but overshadowed by the huge number of oddballs in Vancouver.

So there is pockets of discrimination in Vancouver that would be worse that Toronto, but overall I think better. Toronto and the GTA area are built on Red Neck workers and that is the history of Southern Ontario. Ontarios definitely suffers from racism and bigotry far worse that BC.

The fact that Toronto is so huge does lead to better anonymity.

[Locomotion]

Vancouver is full of weirdos and cast outs, so people that are not the same as others blend in very well here.

lol ... I used to live in Vancouver too so I know what ya mean! I hear they tipped Canada one day and all the nuts rolled into Vancouver.

[chantel]

You will encounter occasional drunken thugs on late night subways and busses, especially after midnight since the bars close at 1am as does the transit ... which has never made sense to me ... unless someone in Toronto city council has put their brain cells together and figured 2am would be a better transit cut off time to accommodate all the drunks?

Anyways, that's my view of TO and I'm stickin' to it!

Regular bars close at 2 am now and have for awhile..subways approx 1:30 but there are all nite streetcars and some buses running

[Rock Savage]

I go back and forth between TO and NYC. It's basically my second home.

I would say that, as a major metropolitan area, it is quite safe. Especially compared to other places where I have spent time: DC, Detroit, Baltimore, Philly, San Fran, LA, St Louis and Dallas.

However, precautions are always in order

[Shyla Wild]

Toronto is safe, as long as they don't play in the Stanley Cup final. Think about it. They haven't won a cup since 67, if they get to the final and don't win...they'll burn the town down.

[Alexis]

That's funny Shyla

Ya I was referring to areas like Jane & Finch or other areas where there might be gang related violence, people with guns, street level prostitutes, drug dealers, etc..

Not to worried about the general public..

Just don't like stray bullets or blades..

As for Vancouver..

I got assaulted by some straight guys out gay bashing when I lived in the west end..

in the middle of the gay district...

nice place..

[merelypink]

one of my favorite cities