Gay pride at Montréal’s Divers/Cité

By Yves Pelletier

The Rainbow Flag, LGBT pride. Credit:dbking.

We were not able to make Gay pride last year on the traditional late June dates due to business travels, so a friend instead suggested  Quebec for Montréal Divers/Cite pride event in early August. We decided to pull out our gay passports and headed to the French capital of North America for some of their well known hospitality. This year, Divers/Cite will celebrate it’s “All Together Different” themed-festival from July 27-August 1.

Last year, we stayed in a lovely hotel called Chateau Versailles. It’s not right in the Gay Village — Montreal’s gay-friendly neighborhood of bars, restaurants and services — but only a few subway stops away in an area called the Golden Square Mile, near The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. It is a smaller hotel, which we really like, in an historic building on Sherbrooke Street, and it’s worth it just for the amazing breakfast that is included.

The fantastic thing about the Divers/Cite event is that there is so much to do and most of it is free. There are shows and concerts every evening; one is, of course, an amazing drag show called Mascara which draws 20,000-30,000 fans every year.  There are movies in the park at night featuring the latest gay flick (get your mind out of the gutter — it’s an outside venue). There’s also a French music night called Le Boulevard Des Rêves, as well as a  party for lesbians. The list goes on and on, and it lasts a full week.

Gay Village, Montreal. Credit:CurbsnBenches.

We particularly enjoyed the final Sunday with its amazing T-dance — it’s tea time, but everyone at this dance party is drinking beer instead. Staring at 3:00 pm, thousands of people dance all day under a hot Montréal sun at an outdoor location near the Gay Village. For the past few years, Montréal’s infamous Sainte Catherine Street in the Gay Village is closed to all traffic so it becomes a stretch of about 15 to 20 city blocks for pedestrians only. The restaurants and bars have outdoor patios where people watching is simply incredible — Montréalers of both genders are quite stunning. We especially loved Le Saloon.

We also took in some of the local sights while visiting. I recommend spending some time in Old Montréal and visiting the Notre Dame Basilica, Place Jacques Cartier and the Old Port of Montréal. This year we will explore the Botanical garden, Biodome and the Olympic park area at the east end of the City. That’s right, we are going back again this year… it was just that much fun.

Notre Dame Basilica Montreal. Credit:joephoto.

Related resources

• Gay and Lesbian Travel
• Montreal Gay Travel
• Montreal hotels
• Montreal vacations
• Canada vacations

Yves Pelletier is a market Manager for Orbitz for over 3 years now and has been in the travel industry for over 25 years. He has traveled extensively both professionally and for his personal passion.

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