By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
Rainbow flags and banners will be held high in downtown Cowansville on Aug. 16 as a citizens’ group hosts the city’s first-ever LGBTQ+ Pride march.
The Marche des Fiertés Brome-MissisQueer Pride March will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the corner of South St./Rue du Sud and Rue Léopold and proceed to Parc Centre-Ville for a Pride fair, dubbed the Queer Village, where local LGBTQ+ community organizations will set up information kiosks. Live music, colouring activities, “conversation spaces” and cake will be offered; participants are encouraged to pack a picnic. Trained volunteers will monitor the march and the festival to make sure everyone feels safe.
The event arose out of discussions on social media between five members of the queer community from around the region, said Syn Moreau, a founding member of the Brome-MissisQueer collective. Moreau lives in Bedford and their fellow organizers live in Frelighsburg, Sutton, Saint-Armand and Stanbridge East; Cowansville was chosen for the event because of its central location.
“I grew up here, and I’m part of the generation – people in their 30s and 40s now – who were told that no matter what letter [in the LGBTQ+ acronym] you represent, to live out your identity, you have to go to Montreal,” they said. “A lot of people moved to Montreal or some other big city, and we all decided to move back after a while – we wanted to be closer to nature, closer to our families, some of us are farmers… for various reasons, it made sense for us to come back. For a while, we were all living in our little bubbles with family, friends and allies. I don’t know how exactly it happened, but last year, someone [on social media] mentioned that there were few events created for the queer community, to show that we are a big community, we’re here and we want to live in the countryside and feel free to express our identity. And so we decided to do the march.”
Moreau said the goal of the march was “to show that it’s safe and joyful to be part of the LGBTQ+ community in a rural area, that we can thrive here.”
“We’re not naive – we know there are homophobic and transphobic people in the community, just like there are homophobic and transphobic people everywhere – but most people in the region are very strong allies and they support our existence,” Moreau added. “We do our thing, they respect it and life goes on.” Moreau said they expect that a visible, public LGBTQ+ event will bring more queer and allied people out of the woodwork and help the community grow.
Béatrice Touchette is the community life co-ordinator at Divers-Gens, a Granby-based nonprofit which supports LGBTQ+ and questioning youth and young adults; amid a recent rise in homophobic and transphobic sentiment in the province, they are working on expanding counselling and other services to a larger age group. The organization plans to have a kiosk at the Pride fair. They said they believe bringing a Pride march and fair to Cowansville is a great idea.
“We go to the Montreal Pride parade every year, and that’s really important for us, but we always felt there was something missing,” Touchette said. “Transportation is a challenge, and people might not relate as much to big, urban marches. [Holding a march in Cowansville] is a great way to show that we exist, and help local queer people connect with other queer people.”
“I hope it will come back year after year and show that yes, there are queer people everywhere, not just in big cities, and that allies can be everywhere too,” Touchette concluded.
The Brome-MissisQueer Pride march and Queer Village Pride fair are free and open to all. To learn more, search for “1ère Marche des Fiertés Brome-MissisQueer 1st Pride March” on Facebook.