montreal pride – The Concordian

This year’s Pride parade attracted nearly 300,000 people, according to festival organizers. An estimated 12,000 people took over René-Lévesque Boulevard last Sunday afternoon as they marched in the 36th edition of Fierté’s Montreal Pride parade. With over 250 activities and drawing more than 2.5 million visitors, Fierté Montreal is the most-attended Pride festival across Canada.

This year’s Pride parade theme inspiration is the colour violet, the last colour of the rainbow flag. The colour violet is a symbol for dreams, gentleness and peace.

Pride 2019 marks the 50th anniversary since the Stonewall riots, a series of demonstrations that paved the way for the gay rights movement. To commemorate the anniversary, in an effort to increase inclusion within the festival, Fierté organizers took various initiatives focusing, in part, on diversifying and indigenizing the festival.

A “Reconciliation Ceremony” kicked off festivities on the festival’s opening night. Additionally, land acknowledgement statements were made at the start of each show during the 11-day-long festival.

Another important initiative was the creation of the “Two-Spirit Space,” a safe space designed for Two-Spirit people, as well as non-Indigenous festival-goers seeking to find out about First Nations sexual and gender diversity.

The “Two-Spirit” space, seen here, was located in Parc des Faubourgs. It was designed for Two-Spirit people and non-Indigenous people seeking to find out about First Nations sexual and gender diversity.

Located in the Parc des Faubourgs, the space consisted of an outdoor seating area and a teepee designed by Innu artist Serge Ashini and MMIWG inquiry commissioner, Michele Audette. A knowledge keeper was available at the space to give advice and answer questions every day from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. throughout the festival. These resources are all part of Fierté Montreal’s plan to put diversity at the forefront, says Communications Coordinator for the festival, Mathieu Audette. “[Fierté Montreal’s] new mandate focuses on diversity, inclusion and working towards reconciliation,” explained Audette. “We plan to continue working with communities in order to ensure that Pride is as inclusive and safe a space as possible.”

Members of the leather-fetish community march in the Montreal Pride parade on Sunday, August 18, 2019.

Diversity was also at the forefront last Sunday when Asian LGBTQ+ communities were positioned at the head of the parade, a group Montreal Pride’s Board of Directors says is often invisible. Also marching in the parade were organizations advocating for the further advancement of the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, of trans persons, of migrant trans persons, of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, of sex workers, of intersex persons and of LGBTQ+ seniors.

High in colour and emotion, violet, the last colour on the rainbow flag, was highlighted as the colour theme for this year’s festival. People marching in the parade as well as attendees of the final day of festivities were spotted wearing purple and proudly waving rainbow flags.

Photos by Laurence Brisson Dubreuil

A parade participant strikes a pose as they march in the 2019 Montreal Pride parade.

Among this year’s Montreal Pride events were a variety of drag shows, including a highly attended Drag Superstars, featuring famed queens from the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race reality television show.

Through the reality TV nature of Drag Race, viewers get an inside look and understanding of the talent, effort and significance within the art of drag, yet arguably through a selective lens. While the names and success of the show’s stars remained evident at Pride’s Drag Superstars, the event also provided a clear representation of the performing queens’ talent. The event showcased the core nature of the of the art of drag and its significance within the LGBTQ+ community—sharing the true art, spirit and meaning of drag.

The three-hour-long show took place on the TD Stage at Parc des Faubourgs on Aug. 16. Hosted by Bianca Del Rio, the winning queen from season six of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the show consisted of individual lip sync and musical performances by a large number of queens from the television show, along with local Montrealers. The show was a fun, poignant event, due to the artistic individuality, the encouragement of local queens and the open discussion of serious subjects related to the queer community, such as the stigma surrounding HIV.

The show was opened by Ongina, a contestant on season one of RuPaul’s Drag Race. During her time on the show, Ongina shared with her fellow contestants and the judges that she was HIV positive. Since becoming the first queen to publicly announce her status on TV, Ongina has gone on to be an HIV activist, and other queens in later seasons have followed her path by sharing their experiences and diagnoses with the illness. As Ongina spoke to the Montreal crowd, she shared this story and spoke about how Drag Race helped her openly discuss her status and the illness. Ongina used the platform of Drag Superstars to share her experience, and used the art of drag and performance as a form of activism; a way to spread awareness on important matters prominent to the queer community and its history.

The distinctiveness and creativity within the realm of drag was showcased through the individual performances by the various queens at Drag Superstars. This individuality was shown through their painstakingly crafted visual appearances — with details distinct and individual to each queen — along with their performances and interactions with the crowd.

Miz Cracker performed a mash-up of pop songs interspersed with movie and advertisement clips, creating a surprising, comedic performance.

Highlights of the night were found in the short lip sync performances by the queens — a performance form long connected to the art of drag. Miz Cracker, a New York queen who placed fifth in the most recent season of Drag Race, performed a mash-up of pop songs interspersed with movie and advertisement clips, creating a surprising, comedic performance.

Adore Delano threw herself into the audience, creating a deep and loving connection between herself and the crowd.

Adore Delano, runner up on season six of the show (and also previously a contestant on American Idol), performed her own songs live and threw herself into the audience to crowd surf while singing her song “I Adore U.” This further created a deep and loving connection between herself and the crowd.

Aja, a New York queen from both season nine and All Stars 3 of Drag Race, also performed her own work, coming out with a fiery performance of a multitude of her successful rap songs. Other queens added their unique spin to the performances through impersonating famous musicians. Kameron Michaels, a top four contestant on Season 10, lip synced “Believe” by Cher.

Shangela, a contestant on season two and three as well as All Stars 3, closed the show with a mix of Beyonce songs. While dressed and made up in the singer’s likeness, the queen performed the singer’s famous dance moves which showcased her immense talent as a performer.

Drag Superstars also included local queens, furthering the concept of community, acceptance and diversity. In the middle of the show, queens Rita Baga, Miss Butterfly, Manny, Michel Dorion, and Franky Dee — all Montreal performers — each took the stage for their own lip sync set. Bianca Del Rio, spoke about this, encouraging support for local and up-and-coming queens and reminding everyone that all Drag Race queens were at this place once too and needed local support to help get them to where they are now.

In showcasing the diversity of styles, talents, focuses, and the diverse representation and intense range of creativity and styles, this brought a greater theme and consideration of the meaning of Pride in the first place. These aspects of the event showed a celebration of the queer community, and messages of acceptance for all, especially in this community that faces bigotry, exclusion and violence.

The differences within the queens’ styles and performances promote messages of acceptance and support. Looking at the significance of representation, especially in media, these messages can provide reassurance and encouragement for future generations to pursue true authenticity of the self. This representation provides access to explore ideas of gender, identity, presentation, sexuality and the complexities and fluidities within.