Several community groups and artists have recently disassociated themselves from Fierté Montréal.
Queer and racialized artists have reported violent experiences during their participation in the Festival. The same applies to young people who attended the Youth Zone. The refusal to take a stand against the genocide in Palestine leaves many people perplexed. For these reasons, the Coalition des groupes jeunesse LGBTQ+ and the Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec have cancelled their events at Fierté Montréal. In this context, we feel it is important to explain our decision to take part in this year’s activities.
The origins of Pride are closely linked to the fight for the rights of LGBTQ+ people. The very first Pride march in Montreal took place in 1979, to mark the tenth anniversary of the Stonewall riots. These uprisings occurred in response to a police raid on a gay bar in New York. Montreal experienced a similar episode with a violent police raid on an LGBTQ+ bar, the Sex Garage, in June 1990. The resistance of queer communities inspired the organisation of Divers/Cité, the predecessor of Fierté Montréal, with a renewed fighting spirit.
Over the years, the fight for the rights of LGBTQ+ people has gone hand in hand with a need to celebrate the advances and gains made. Giving free rein to the joy of being queer is another way of resisting!
The current political context is worrying for our children. Setbacks to the rights of trans, non-binary and gender-creative people are very real. In these circumstances, the fight and the party are equally necessary. Our children and their loved ones need to experience moments of happiness surrounded by a large community that respects, loves and supports them.
However, our fight against queerphobia makes no sense if it is not waged in solidarity with the struggles against oppressions born of the same system. Struggles against colonialism, racism, sexism, ableism: our struggles are one and the same.
Gender Creative Kids expresses its support for the artists and groups who have denounced violent practices at Fierté Montréal. Because Fierté Montréal is an important platform for our communities, we are committed, as a member of Fierté Montréal, to taking action this fall to exert a transformative influence. We welcome the announcement of the measures that will be put in place by Fierté Montréal to improve conditions and communications (complaint management and feedback mechanisms, creation of a mediation committee, feedback on the work climate, etc.). However, Fierté Montréal’s position on the genocide in Palestine remains a question mark that needs to be addressed.
Fierté Montréal belongs to its members, i.e. the community groups and organizations of Quebec. We have the tools to quickly make collective decisions in line with our values. We invite the other members of Fierté Montréal to join us in this effort.
In the meantime, we hope to see many of us celebrating our children and families together at Community Days and the parade. Let’s make it loud and clear that we will not allow any rollback of rights for trans, non-binary and gender-creative people.