August is Montreal Pride: a quick guide to festivities

August is Pride in Montreal, and the two-week festival kicked off Thursday evening, not letting the weather rain on its parade.

Though outdoor celebrations were cancelled due to thunderstorms, the opening ceremony took place at Le National in the heart of the Gay Village. It was co-hosted by the Circle of Indigenous Peoples and featured several Indigenous musicians, dancers and storytellers.

Simon Gamache, Fierté Montréal's executive director, said the ceremony placed two-spirit people and queer Indigenous people in the spotlight just as the acronym 2SLGBTQ+,  (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and others) does.

This year's festival runs until Aug. 13.

Organizers say the traditional Pride parade will take place this year after being cancelled at the last minute in 2022 due to a lack of personnel.

For the 17th year, Fierté Montréal will take place in the Village and several other locations around the city, including the main site on the Olympic Park esplanade. 

There are 15 free shows on the roster, with 150 artists set to take the stage. The Pride parade will run along René-Lévesque Boulevard on the last day of festivities.

"I'm excited for this year, it's a very important edition for us," Gamache said.

He said Fierté Montréal partnered with about 200 community organizations and queer collectives. Other collectives, like Sweet Like Honey, are also independently hosting events.

Music, drag kings and RuPaul's Drag Race stars

The festival's lineup includes a concert by Kinkead on Friday at the Jardins Gamelin. Klô Pelgag and Kanen will take the Olympic Park stage on August 9.

The latter concert will be followed immediately by another featuring Safia Nolin and Martha Wainwright.

The two artists will be sharing the stage with the Queer Songbook Orchestra, a Canadian chamber ensemble that performs orchestral versions of pop songs of significance to the 2SLGBTQ+ community — from Taylor Swift and Arthur Russell to k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge.

Other events include the Pride Party, hosted by Barbada at the Casino de Montréal on August 5, and the Drag Superstars show, hosted by Rita Baga, on August 10 at the Olympic Park esplanade. This large-scale event brings together a range of participants from different versions of RuPaul's Drag Race, as well as other popular artists.

The RV Métal and Rock Bière drag kings will perform at the Olympic Park on August 12, and Fierté Montréal is set to announce more acts in the coming weeks.

For a full list of events, you can visit the Fierté Montréal website.

Trans March

Though it is not organized by Fierté Montreal — it was organized by trans activist Céleste Trianon — Montreal's trans march will take place Saturday, Aug. 5.

"Organizing this march, in a way, is for me, the trans community and its allies to scream 'enough!' and take action to prevent rollbacks, protect our health care and our ability to live and thrive in public," said Trianon. 

This year's march is taking place in the context of increased anti-trans rhetoric and legislation restricting access to health care for trans people in the U.S. and U.K., along with a rise in anti-LGBT hate in Canada.

"Why should we march? Because our lives are precious. Because our bodily autonomy belongs to us. Because our rights are under attack. Because our joy is worth celebrating," says the event description.

The march will kick off at Place du Canada at 2:30 p.m.