Montreal Gazette
ONTREAL – A young Toronto graphic designer, a retired Montreal food worker, Montreal’s mayor, a Quebec MP, a Paris regional councillor, a Cameroonian human-rights lawyer, a flight attendant in thong and feathers – they were among the thousands who watched, walked or danced in Montreal’s annual gay-pride parade Sunday.
Led by the propulsive beat of a percussion group, the parade – sponsored by Viagra – left its rallying point at Guy St. and René Lévesque Blvd. around 1 p.m. and travelled east to Sanguinet St. on the edge of the Gay Village. Along the way, Montreal was held up as a model of how gay rights should be promoted in a modern society – with respect, encouragement and a lot of flair.
« Montreal has become an international reference, not (just) for tolerance anymore but for openness and accessibility, » said Mayor Gérald Tremblay, who walked the route with other dignitaries and politicians of all stripes – although members of the governing federal Conservative party were conspicuously absent.
« Montreal is one of the most gayfriendly cities in the world, and Canada generally is one of the most open countries, » agreed Jean-Luc Romero, an HIV-positive activist in France who sits on the regional council of Paris and wrote the new non-fiction book Homo Politicus.
« My country is starting to recriminalize homosexuality, and all of you can help us put pressure on the government to make sure that doesn’t happen, » Cameroonian human-rights lawyer Alice Nkom – grand marshal of the parade – told invitees outside the Maritime Plaza Hotel just before the event began.
From her perch in a folding chair on the sidewalk, Monique Lesperance watched the procession go by. « I’m a lesbian, came out of the closet in the 1970s. I remember how bad the homophobia was back then, » the 72-year-old retiree said. « Things have changed for the better, but we still have a ways to go to end discrimination. »
Spectators generally fall into one of three categories – gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people; heterosexual supporters; and « people who are sort of frowning at you, but in a peaceful way, » said Westmount-Ville Marie MP Marc Garneau, in his third gay-pride parade.
Karine Steele, one of the parade’s dancers, left her Air Transat flight attendant’s uniform at home and dressed up in a gold and cream bikini thong, flashy silver high heels, and a canary-yellow feather headdress and matching wings that stretched two metres wide. « I’m doing this for fun, just to be able to dance – I just love it, » she said.
Joseph Nguyen, 23, who works in graphic design in Toronto, came down with a half-dozen friends to spend the weekend in Montreal. « It’s my first time here. We have our own parade in Toronto, but I don’t think it’s as fun as this, » he said. « The clubs are crazy here and the people are really friendly. »
The parade was part of the fifth annual Montreal Pride Celebrations, a week of festivities that began Tuesday and ended Sunday. Montreal has been holding annual pride parades for more than 20 years.