June is Pride Month: Here are the 7 best LGBTQ+ things in Montreal you can do right now

Montreal normally celebrates Pride from August 10 to 16, but the previous plans for the city's grand parades and events to celebrate the diversity of its LGBTQ+ communities has been forced to restructure. This year's Pride Parade in Montreal has been postponed and will be held on Sunday, August 15, 2021 instead. The organizers at Fierté Montréal have since opted for online conferences, activities and modifications to its omnipresent Community Day on August 15 this year. (Can you believe last year brought together over 169 community groups and associations as well as over 100,000 visitors?)

In solidarity with LGBTQ+ communities around the world, we're taking time to join the world's major cities in creating the first-ever virtual global pride event by showcasing some amazing and talented people who are online right now making essential contributions to culture online and through safe social distancing.

Listen in on Chosen Family with Tranna Wintour and Thomas Leblanc

Get a taste for Canadian queer culture by listening in every second Tuesday with new episodes of Chosen Family, a series from Montreal comedians Thomas Leblanc and Tranna Wintour. The podcast includes conversations with special guests (most recently Ty Mitchell, Rufus Wainwright, Bret Easton Ellis and Coeur de Pirate), storytelling with hot topics like breaking celibacy (gasp!), and deep dives couples cultural commentary like examining the parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the AIDS crisis. This is what you put in your ears to explore how friendship, resistance and community can intersect of art, gender, and sexuality.

Watch Kiki Ballroom performances from across the country

If you want to get a taste of the rising stars in Canada's Kiki scene, Cuarta Baby of the House of Benetton—part of the Montreal Kiki Ballroom Alliance—has been curating an Instagram page with performance videos from around the country. Tune in to see shots from Vogue and Ballroom Scenes that prevoke and perspire in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, all in one place. If you want to dig deeper, check out what the House of Amazon, the Kiki Haus of Christian Siriano, and the House of Monroe are up to these days. 

Settle in for Drag Story Time with Montreal's own Uma Gahd

On the first Monday of every month, one hour before dinnertime, everyone is welcome to tune into drag storytime with Uma Gahd. Readings take place in both French and in English, and it’s a pay-what-you-can series of events that asks for donations via Paypal or sending transfer to the email address found here. The best part is when she fields questions from children who are watching, so make sure to say hello and ask something when you watch. Fun fact: She’s a qualified early childhood educator!

Watch the playlist collab between the National Film Board and image+nation

We're digging deep in the internet to bring you this playlist collaboration between Canada's National Film Board and image+nation, Montreal's premiere LGBTQ Film Festival, in 2014. Access to all of the films online are free, featuring both short works and long features like Aerlyn Weissman & Lynne Fernie's Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives that follows Canadian queer women’s experiences in the mid-20th century, and documentaries that covers all kinds of topics from Francine Pelletier & Christina Willings' Cure for Love on the evangelical movement to convert gay people into heterosexuals to Tahani Rached’s Doctors With Heart which takes viewers into an AIDS clinic in Montreal.

Groove to the amazing playlists for Montreal Pride 2019 by Bamboo Hermann

Since moving back to Montreal in 2016, we've been totally blown away by the DJ performances of Bamboo Hermann, culminating in this unforgettable set during Montreal Pride's 2019 celebrations. Click on and you'll be able to listen to music that draws from the early 80’s/90’s queer and black roots of house and UK dance music. Londoners might remember her from when she got started in the East London queer scene when she acted as a promoter and resident DJ at SHOES (Vogue Fabrics, The Waiting Room) as well as residencies at HOMODROP (Dalston Superstore) and TRANSISTER (Resistance Gallery).

If you're not following the boylesque performer Tristan Ginger? Get on that.

This international performer and self-proclaimed "Queen of Boylesque" is on fire right now, and we're not just talking about that hair. Bringing tons of vivacity to Montreal's booming burlesque scene with blush-inducing dances, we'll just have suffice for their Instagram performances like the one above and pay-what-you-can performances online until we're able to hit the clubs again; follow them on Facebook to see when the next show is happening, or just profess your undying love.

Save the date: Montreal Pride is going online later this year

While the official Pride Parade, Community Day and other excellent activities across town won't be happening in-person this year, we'll settle for the next best thing: On August 10 to 16, Fierté Montréal will be holding an alternative version online that everyone around the world will be welcome to attend. An announcement on May 19 teased that plans are in the works, so visit regularly during this month to find out what's in store.

Are you a Montrealer that knows about something we should include here? Let us know!

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