Of Pride and protests: Fierté Montréal navigates ‘extremely complex’ situation

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This LGBTQ2+ Pride season has become a summer of discontent, as pro-Palestinian protesters at celebrations across North America question sponsorship ties to companies connected with the war in Gaza. 

On June 2, protesters blocked Philadelphia’s Pride parade, chanting and holding a banner that read “no pride in genocide.” In Boston, three protesters were arrested during the city’s June 8 Pride parade. Demonstrators also disrupted New York City’s parade on June 30, the same day protesters forced Pride Toronto to terminate its parade mid-route.  

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The largest LGBTQ2+ Pride gathering in the francophone world, Fierté Montréal begins Thursday and says it is prepared for any eventuality at its annual parade on Aug. 11. 

“Organizing Pride is not like organizing a Santa Claus parade or a music festival,” says Fierté Montréal executive director Simon Gamache. “There are 188 registered contingents in our parade this year and while they are historically marginalized communities, we have to take care how we order the parade, because sometimes this group doesn’t like this other group. It is an extremely complex puzzle. Whatever your cultural, religious or political affiliation is, we have to respect the dignity of our people, of everybody in the parade.” 

The Pride organization also continues to deal with age-old charges of corporatism, including by Trans March Montréal, whose 10th annual march takes place Aug. 3 beginning at 2 p.m. at Mont-Royal métro station. On July 5, Trans March Montréal announced on Instagram its “complete dissociation” from Fierté Montréal. 

“Our organizing team believes that corporate Pride is antithetical to the fight for queer liberation,” Trans March Montréal stated, adding that it denounces “any suggestion that capitalism can be compatible with an equitable and just society.”

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“Any Pride organization openly welcoming banks, conservative parties and war profiteers should be boycotted and shamed,” the statement continued. “Pride cannot be a parade for capitalists and warmongers to pretend to care about queer people while exploiting them.” 

One of Fierté Montréal’s sponsors, TD Bank, was targeted by protesters at the Victoria Pride parade on July 7. The Times Colonist reported: “A group of about 70 pro-Palestinian protesters cut in front of TD’s float, forcing the parade, attended by tens of thousands, to come to a standstill.”

TD Bank is listed on the Victoria Pride Society’s website as one of its “most impactful partners.” The Times Colonist reported that pro-Palestinian protesters said they “had specifically chosen to stop the TD Bank float because of the bank’s association with Israel-based Elbit Systems and weapons manufacturer General Dynamics, two companies that protesters accuse of being complicit in the war in Gaza.”

While Fierté Montréal collaborated with Trans March Montréal organizers last year, talks this year fell apart.

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“The trans march is important, but they decided they didn’t want to be with us for many different reasons, and that’s fine,” Gamache says. “The LGBTQ2+ ecosystem is very complex. We don’t have to agree with each other on everything, but I think we should all respect the diversity of perspectives and tactics.” 

Trans March Montréal co-organizer Celeste Trianon dismisses the thought of a rapprochement with Fierté Montréal happening any time soon.

“Pride fundamentally was a protest that began with the Stonewall riots,” Trianon says. “It isn’t good enough for Fierté Montréal to just pay lip service.” 

Asked whether she will participate in any possible pro-Palestinian protest during Fierté Montréal’s parade, Trianon replied: “I’m actually not part of any organizing for any events on Aug. 11. I don’t know what’s going to happen that day, but I anticipate something will happen.” 

Gamache won’t reveal Fierté Montréal’s strategy, but says the organization began drafting an action plan in the spring. He says Fierté Montréal is also talking with pro-Palestinian activists whom, he adds, have said they currently have no intention of stopping the parade. 

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“The core of our action plan is to ensure the security of everybody present — whether marching or standing along the parade route,” Gamache says. “We have hired 219 people (to secure the parade route); there will also be 150 volunteers and the police. It will be safe.” 

Veteran LGBTQ2+ activist Puelo Deir — who co-founded Montreal’s original Pride organization, Divers/Cité, in 1993 as a direct response to the violent 1990 police raid on Sex Garage, now widely considered to be Montreal’s Stonewall — says protesters can communicate their messages by participating in the parade. 

“There will always be a place for dissent at Pride,” Deir says. “I remember when Pervers/Cité was against the corporatization of Divers/Cité, that didn’t stop some of their members from participating in Pride, joining contingents to express and publicize their views on whatever issues they were dealing with at the time. 

“But if you spout hatred and antisemitism, that’s a no-go and you need to be removed. And if your demonstration forces the cancellation of Pride, then you’re hurting the very people you should be engaging with.” 

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Deir also believes Fierté Montréal must move its main site from the Olympic Park esplanade to the downtown Quartier des spectacles, where this year for the first time Fierté Montréal has a stage on the Esplanade Tranquille until Aug. 4. 

That’s an about-face from 2012, when Divers/Cité was forced to move out of the Village to the Jacques-Cartier Pier in the Old Port, a move that killed the queer arts festival in May 2015. Divers/Cité had to relocate its major stage on Berri St. because the new bus terminal opened in December 2011.

As Divers/Cité co-founder and then-general manager Suzanne Girard told Xtra in 2013: “We looked at two new sites: the Old Port and Olympic Stadium. The city refused us the Quartier des spectacles six years in a row: ‘We don’t want something like that here.’” 

While pleased with Fierté Montréal’s new stage, Gamache says the organization will probably renew its contract with the Olympic Installations Board, which expires after this year’s edition. But construction on the Olympic Stadium’s new $870-million roof is only slated to be completed in 2028, and has already forced the festival to rearrange its site. 

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“What other venue except the Place des Festivals (in the Quartier des spectacles) can accommodate us?” asks Gamache. 

Deir likes Fierté Montréal’s parade route from the historic former downtown West Village (which was centred on Stanley St. until 1984) to the current Village in the east end, but says the parade alone does not provide enough visibility — which is a primary goal of Pride. 

“The irony is police raided our bars and nightclubs in the old West Village when former Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau wanted to ‘clean up’ downtown for the 1976 Olympics,” Deir says. “Now we’re stuck in that hellhole at the Olympic Park!”

Because Montreal’s Pride festivities have generated tens of millions of dollars in economic spinoffs over the past 30 years, Deir believes Fierté Montréal has earned a place at Place des Festivals. 

“Pride is all about visibility,” Deir says. “Do whatever it takes to bring the entire festival back downtown. Change your dates if you have to. If the Fierté Montréal festival continues at the Olympic Park, the festival will die a slow death.”

Montreal Pride guide: selected highlights

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Fierté Montréal hosts two Community Days, Aug. 9 and 10 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.  in the Village. Kiosks for LGBTQ2+ organizations, community groups and sports teams will line the Ste-Catherine St. pedestrian mall between St-Hubert St. and Papineau Ave.

Mitsou and Marjo co-headline the ImmiX concert, Aug. 8 at 8:30 p.m. on the Olympic Park esplanade. 

The Soirée 100% Drag on Aug. 9 on the Olympic Park esplanade will be one of the biggest drag concerts ever hosted in Montreal. The MajestiX show will showcase local drag royalty at 7:30 p.m., followed by Drag Superstars at 9 p.m., starring artists from the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise.

Mundo Disko returns Aug. 10 from 3 to 11 p.m. on the Olympic Park esplanade, with performances by international house diva Crystal Waters and Montreal disco legend France Joli. Says Joli: “I have performed at Prides around the world, but I have always wanted to sing at Pride in my hometown. I’ve been longing to do this!”

The Pride parade on Aug. 11 begins at 1 p.m., running east along René-Lévesque Blvd. from Metcalfe to Atateken Sts. This year’s theme is We Are the Rainbow, and the grand marshals are RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 winner Sasha Colby and French-Tunisian soccer player Ouissem Belgacem. During the parade, do not forget to observe the minute of silence at 2:15 p.m. to honour those lost to anti-LGBTQ2+ violence and HIV/AIDS. 

And the Olympic Park esplanade transforms into the city’s largest open-air dance floor for the Mega T-Dance on Aug. 11 from 3 to 11 p.m., featuring local and international DJs such as DJ Mohammad and Kitty Amor. 

The Fierté Montréal festival opens Thursday, Aug. 1 and continues through Sunday, Aug. 11. For more information, visit fiertemtl.com. 

richard@bugsburnett.com

x.com/bugsburnett

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