Pride Solidarity March celebrates freedom
Pride Solidarity March celebrates freedom
Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
editor@qctonline.com
Hundreds of people of a wide range of ages and backgrounds gathered in Place D’Youville on Sept. 1 to mark the 20th anniversary of LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations in Quebec City and call for vigilance in the fight to protect the rights of sexual and gender minorities.
The march was the marquee event of four days of Pride celebrations, which included drag performances, outdoor concerts (despite erratic weather), parties at Le Drague, Le Saint-Matthew and other queer-friendly venues, an artists’ market, a community fair and a “gender exploration” activity at the Palais Montcalm, where people could try on new clothes and appearance-altering prosthetics and get free haircuts, discounted tattoos and style advice from eager volunteers.
While the festival has undergone a rebrand in the past year, changing its name from Fête Arc-en-Ciel de Québec to Fierté de Québec and add- ing more activities for queer, non-binary and young audiences, the traditional Sunday afternoon Solidarity March has remained the same. Organizers are adamant that the march is not a parade. Although the odd political party, labour union or church banner or pin could be seen among the throng of flag- bedecked marchers streaming through Vieux-Québec, there were no organized delegations.
Participants chanted “Pride was a riot!” alluding to the first Pride celebrations in North America, which were protests against a lack of of- ficial recognition, respect and protections for gay, lesbian and transgender people. They chanted slogans in French and English in support of the rights of transgender youth, Palestin- ian sovereignty, the Black Lives Matter movement and boycotts of multinational corporations. A touching open-mic session at Place D’Youville, where people could read poetry or speak about whatever was on their minds, followed the march.
“That platform [at the Soli- darity March] is there for people in the community to express their views, and the only rule is that they do it respect- fully,” said British Columbia- born Johnson Bresnick, who celebrated his first Quebec City Pride in 2008 and recently became secretary of the Alli- ance Arc-en-Ciel, which organizes the annual celebration.
Jean-Yves Martin came from St. Lambert, near Montreal, with his partner, Pierre Poisson. The two men in their 60s, dressed in colourful butterfly outfits, drew admiring looks from the younger marchers. The admiration was mutual. “I love seeing this,” Martin said, gesturing to clusters of people in their teens and 20s with brightly coloured hair and colourful signs. “I have four kids and six grandkids and I raised them just like this, so they can be free.”
Quebec City resident Katharina Urbschat was attending her first Pride, in solidarity with gay family members and to see what it was like. “I love this–Ifeelsofree,likeIcanbe anyone I want to be,” she said. “I can finally say that I belong to this community, and I’m proud of that,” said Hortense*, a recent immigrant from Cam- eroon, where homosexuality is a criminal offence. “There are places in the world where you can’t make that choice, to live out your sexual orientation or your gender identity.”
“As a person who has had to come out a few different times … it’s important for me to have a world where our kids won’t have to come out, where they can just be themselves from the beginning,” said Alexandre Bédard, a father of two young children and Alliance Arc- en-Ciel board member who is transgender.
At the microphone, speakers emphasized the joy of coming together, but also the fragility of LGBTQ+ rights in an increasingly polarized political climate. A Quebec City resident named Dominic, who gave only his first name, stepped to the mic and drew the audience’s attention to his wedding ring. “I’ve been married for 15 years, and to get us to that point, there are people who have been through torture, who have been put in prison, who have died.” He concluded by adapting a quote from French feminist author Simone de Beauvoir: “Never forget that it will only take a political, economic or religious crisis for our rights to be called into question. These rights are never acquired. You will have to remain vigilant throughout your life.”
*last name withheld for safety reasons
Are you new in town and trying to get more involved with the LGBTQ+ community?
• Volunteer with the Alliance Arc-en-Ciel and make your mark on Pride 2025! Email info@arcencielquebec.com to learn more.
• Discover Roller Derby as a player or volunteer and let your competitive side shine through with Roller Derby Québec. “It’s a contact sport on skates with a lot of people – one of the first contact sports developed for women,” explains Élodie Drolet of Roller Derby Québec. “We have a nice bilingual community and a lot of the jargon is in English.” Although teams are only open to women, transgender people and non-binary people, cisgender men are welcome to get involved as officials or volunteers. Follow them on Facebook (Roller Derby Québec).
• Join a queer-positive, creative community with Toustes Doux, a Lower Town-based nonprofit which organizes all-ages, pay-what-you-can queer-friendly community events such as picnics and arts-and-crafts nights. Follow them on Instagram (@toustesdoux).
• Open Zoom and join the Violet Hour Book Club, a bilingual, mainly English-language hybrid book club hosted by Montreal author Christopher Di Raddo. Email him at diraddo@gmail.com to learn more.
• If you enjoy French-language poetry and performance art and want to discover some new venues in Lower Town, follow the Collectif RAMEN on social media.