Montreal: more pride than ever

The Village awaits party people (Photo by Lorraine Carpenter)

Montreal’s LGBTQ community really knows how to blend politics and partying. Radical Montreal’s annual Radical Queer Week and the festival mounted by longstanding pride practitioners Divers/Cité are behind us, but this week promises more anti-capitalist action from Pervers/Cité. Also expect a whack of multidisciplinary programming by Fierté Montreal Pride, the organization that has put on this city’s pride parade for the past five years.

Here are some highlights of the week in pride:

Tonight, it’s Montreal’s First Radical Dyke March at Place Émilie-Gamelin (6 p.m.), and an after-party featuring Men (aka JD Samson, formerly of le Tigre), DJ Lynne T (of Lesbians on Ecstasy, etc.), Philly MC Benni E and performers Laura Boo and Miss Sugarpuss, all at Cabaret Mile End (7240 Parc), 9 p.m., $10/$20.

Thursday, there’s the vernissage for 2qtpoc (see our article by the show’s curator here). Fierté and Project 10 present Aqua Queer Prom Force, an event for bent kids at Local C/D (2229 Ste-Catherine E). Later on, the monthly POMPe party brings queer energy to the punk/metal enclave Katacombes (1635 St-Laurent), and doubles as a fundraiser for Pervers/Cité.

Saturday, Fierté throws its own Dyke March, leaving Ste-Catherine E. and Champlain at 10 a.m. and ending at St-Hubert. Then it’s time for Community Day in the Village, featuring new kiosks up and down the pedestrian stretch of Ste-Catherine E. (St-Hubert to Papineau) from 11–5 p.m. And the fifth annual queer lit bookfair Queer Between the Covers also happens on Saturday at Centre St-Pierre (1212 Panet), 11–6 p.m.

Sunday, this year’s Fierté parade leaves the corner of Guy and René-Lévesque at 1 p.m. and ends at Sanguinet. From there, the crowd will move to Place Émilie-Gamelin, site of a “mega T-dance.”

That’s just the tip of the penis. Or vagina. Or both. For complete radical and mainstream programming, visit the websites for Pervers/Cité and Fierté Montreal Pride. ■