Back for a 15th year starting Monday, the Montreal Pride festival is taking the opportunity to bring the demands of the 2SLGBTQIA + communities, starting with a request for adequate funding from organizations.
Simon Gamache, general manager of Pride Montreal, which wants to be a spokesperson for community organizations as one of the main 2SLGBTQIA + entities in the French-speaking world, deplores their funding by projects in Quebec.
He says that the more than 150 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations in the province, which offer sexual health and mental health services in particular, risk losing their employees as soon as a project ends, due to lack of resources.
“It does not ensure sustainability,” he said. We hope for appropriate funding and that we can really think long term. »
The funding of organizations is at the top of the list of 10 demands drawn up by Montreal Pride, which is based on work carried out over two years by the Quebec LGBT Council with its members.
Among them are also requests related to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
“There are different treatments that make it possible to live with HIV,” recalls Mr. Gamache. However, the RAMQ (Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec) does not cover this care. This is very problematic, because these treatments make it possible to offer a quality of life to people living with HIV. »
In the same vein, Montreal Pride wants the decriminalization of non-disclosure of HIV.
“With the right drugs, you can be intransmissible and undetectable. However, if you do not tell your partner that you are living with HIV, you may find yourself behind bars, which is an aberration given the progress of research”, explains the director general.
Fierté Montréal also begins while the 24th International AIDS Conference, AIDS 2022, is being held in the city. The festival has also collaborated with its organizers.
Like many, Mr. Gamache deplores “the task” of the visa refusals of several AIDS 2022 speakers. “We are talking, for example, about high-level researchers, it is completely absurd”, he adds. .
Montréal Pride has also been confronted with the same problem. An Angolan artist was unable to obtain her visa to participate in the festival, as was activist Joseph Messinga Ngonka, who is honorary co-president of Pride Montreal this year.
“One of our co-chairs is from Cameroon and was also coming for the international AIDS conference. It’s July 31, he’s still at home and he’s been waiting for his visa for months. If he gets it, we welcome him with open arms,” says Mr. Gamache.
Other demands include public recognition of systemic racism and a commitment to combat discrimination.
“Unfortunately, the Quebec government has not yet publicly acknowledged systemic racism. We think that’s really the basis of everything,” underlines Mr. Gamache.
He also wants changes in the school curriculum in terms of sex education.
“There is less and less sex education in schools in Quebec, but also, for what exists, it is to ensure that we no longer speak justly of male-female binaries and heteronormative models. “, he notes.
He notes that people, especially young people, are ready to express a more fluid identity.
However, for 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors, the situation may be quite different. “We are talking about people who may go to a CHSLD or an RPA and, unfortunately, often, they have to go back into the closet,” notes Mr. Gamache.
He would like the government to put in place programs to support 2SLGBTQIA + seniors and reduce their isolation in society and living environments.
“In living environments, there is often a denial of sexual orientation and gender identity,” he notes. We must ensure that the staff is well trained, understands the issues and is able to welcome these people in order to create inclusive environments. »
The demands of the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities will culminate in the Pride Parade, scheduled for Sunday on René-Lévesque Boulevard.