As police crack down on street youth and a bevy of corporate sponsors roll out the rainbow carpet in preparation for this year's Divers/Cité festival, a coalition of Montreal queers is putting forth a different vision of Pride. Running from July 25 to August 3, Pervers/Cité is a ten-day series of events addressing issues increasingly pushed to the margins by the mainstream gay agenda - and with a shameless radical bent.
"Someone just needs to come out and say it : Divers/Cité has lost its way. Each year it just becomes more and more corporate and less and less accountable to its roots in queer liberation," says organizing member Doreen Gray, "We wanted to put together a series that had not only parties, but also reintroed the politics into 'Pride' to actively engage people in a discussion about issues in our communities. You don't need corporate sponsors for that, and you don't need exorbitant entrance fees. "
Steven Gordon, a participant in last years events, is drawn by the free/pay-what-you-can principle underlying all of the events : "Eighty-five dollars for a party? I'm really not that kind of proud!"
Events kick-off with Faggity Ass Fridays' Gayrobics dance party, a fundraiser for the Sense Project, peer-led sex education, on Friday July 25th. Other events throughout the week include Imprisoned Pride, a panel discussing issues faced by queer and trans prisoners in Canada, An Historical Walking Tour of Bent Montreal, and a workshop on Queer & Trans Migrant Justice. On a lighter note, there's an outdoor film evening entitled Homotopia Under the Stars, a game of Capture the Fag, and More Drunk, Less Married, a queercore anti-marriage party. Pervers/Cité wraps up on Sunday August 3, with the inaugural edition of Queer Between the Covers, a bookfair featuring bookstores, publishers, and zine distros from across Eastern Canada.
Ste. Emilie Skillshare & Zine Distro
http://steemilieskillshare.com
3942 Ste. Emilie (corner/coin St. Augustin)
Montreal, PQ
H4C 2A1
*Metro Place St. Henri*
(Ste. Emilie Skillshare is a working group of QPIRG Concordia/
Ste. Emilie est un groupe de travail de QPIRG Concordia
http://qpirgconcordia.org)
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