Montreal Pride Festival | Launch of an “inclusive, diverse and demanding” week

(Montreal) After a two-year absence due to the pandemic, the Montreal Pride Festival is back for a fifteenth edition of the 1^er to August 7 with a festive program.

Audrey Pilon Topkara
The Press

“The last few years have not been easy, especially for marginalized communities,” said Simon Gamache, executive director of Pride Montreal, during a press conference on Tuesday. In every programming decision, we want voices to be heard. »

“We realize at the moment that there is a rise of the right, especially in North America, underlined to The Press singer Sandy Duperval, spokesperson for the festival. COVID has also had an impact on marginalized people, particularly in terms of isolation. We therefore want to continue to create safe spaces. »

“Montreal Pride is today the largest 2SLGBTQIA+ event in Canada and the largest gathering of its kind across the Francophonie,” proclaimed Robert Beaudry, responsible for urban planning and citizen participation on the executive committee of the City of Montreal.

10 official demands

Moe Hamandi, non-binary artist who chairs the board of directors of Pride Montreal, hopes that the visibility of the festival can make heard the demands of the organization, established in collaboration with the Quebec LGBT Council.

“Montreal Pride is calling for adequate funding and premises for 2SLGBTQIA+ community organizations, public recognition of systemic racism, and a commitment to fight discrimination,” said Moe Hamandi.

In terms of health care, the organization calls for free surgeries and gender affirmation care, a ban on non-consensual surgical interventions on intersex people and free care related to HIV/AIDS.

Montréal Pride is also demanding funding for positive sexuality education as well as measures to break the isolation of 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors.

Finally, the organization calls for the decriminalization of HIV non-disclosure, drug use and sex work.

Festivities and COVID-19

This year, more than 150 artists from sexual and gender diversity will be performing during the seven-day festival, which will end on August 7 during the emblematic Pride Parade on René-Lévesque Boulevard.

Festival-goers will be able to attend 12 free shows and catch a glimpse of headliners from here and elsewhere such as Cœur de Pirate, Ariane Moffatt, Sarahmée, Diane Dufresne, Corneille, Rita Baga, Alaclair Ensemble, Patsy Gallant and many others. others.

For reasons of security and capacity, the festival, which expects to receive up to 30,000 people, will be deployed this year not only in the city center and in the Village, but also on the Esplanade of the Olympic Park. , notified Simon Gamache.

The latter entrusted to The Press hope that the Montreal Pride Festival does not lead to an increase in COVID-19 cases, as was the case at the Festival d’été de Québec, using the “perfect festival-goer’s guide”.

“We are talking about vaccination, disinfecting their hands and people with symptoms are invited to wear a mask,” he says. Our communities are very responsible and aware. »