Historic Montréal LGBTQ+ milestones
Montréal is a choice LGBTQ+ tourism destination, but its citizens have fought hard for their city to become the queer mecca it is today. Here are some important milestones in Montréal’s LGBTQ+ history:
1648
Montréal was just a tiny outpost of the French Empire when a gay military drummer with the French garrison was charged by the Order with committing “the worst of crimes” and sentenced to death.
The drummer’s life was spared after Jesuits in Québec City intervened on his behalf, and he was given a choice by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Québec: die or become the first executioner of New France.
The unidentified drummer took the executioner job.
1869
The first recorded gay establishment in North America was Montrealer Moise Tellier’s “apples and cake shop” on Craig Street (now Saint-Antoine Street) near Saint-Laurent Boulevard, where men met up for amorous liaisons.
1959
Gay men were first allowed to dance together in Montréal in the Tropical Room of The Downbeat Club (1422 Peel Street) on the night of August 27, 1959, to celebrate the 24th birthday of legendary Montréal drag queen and emcee “La Monroe” – a.k.a. Armand Monroe who was awarded the Prix John-Banks at the 2022 edition of the Fierté Montréal Festival, before he passed away at age 88 in 2023.
1968
Between 1968 and 1983, Montréal legend Denise Cassidy – better known as Babyface, her nickname inherited from her brief career as a pro wrestler – managed some of the city’s first lesbian bars: La Source, La Guillotine, Baby Face Disco, Chez Baby Face and Face de bébé (1486 René-Levesque Boulevard West), which closed in 1983.
1973
Disco’s Second City, Montréal was home to famed Lime Light discotheque (1254 Stanley Street), where the Godfather of Montréal Disco, DJ Robert Ouimet – crowned best North American DJ by Rolling Stone magazine in 1976, then awarded Billboard magazine’s DJ of the Year Award in 1977 – was the house DJ from 1973 to 1981.
Ouimet once famously observed, “The Lime Light really was better than Studio 54, and that’s mostly because it was a fun place for everybody – men, women, black, white, straight and gay.”
1976
The last hold-out of Montréal’s fabled red-light district on Saint-Laurent Boulevard – known locally as “The Main” – is Café Cléopatra (1230 Saint-Laurent Boulevard), operating since 1976. The building itself has been a show bar since the 1890s.
In addition to the ground-floor strip club, the second-floor cabaret – historically a safe space for Montréal’s transgender community – still hosts drag performances, fetish parties and burlesque shows. Plus, Cleo’s vintage 1970s décor and disco lights are a mind-blowing time warp.
1977
Montréal police raid downtown leather cruising bar Truxx and Le Mystique (1428 and 1424 Stanley Street) on October 22. Fifty machine gun-toting police officers arrest 146 men who were charged with being found in a common bawdy house. The next day, more than 2,000 gay men and their allies protest police harassment.
The subsequent public outrage forces Québec’s National Assembly to amend the Québec Human Rights Charter to include sexual orientation as a prohibited form of discrimination in a landmark vote on December 15, 1977.
Thus, Québec became the first jurisdiction in Canada to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The Truxx raid is often referred to as “Montréal’s Stonewall.”
1979
Legendary Montréal gay activist John Banks – personal secretary of Marlene Dietrich for many years – forms La Brigade Rose. It organized Montreal’s first Pride march, which drew 52 marchers in June 1979.
Since the Rainbow Flag designed by Gilbert Baker for San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978 had not yet become a symbol of the community, Banks sewed together two bedsheets, dyed them pink and cut them into a triangular flag. Banks and legendary Montréal emcee and drag queen “La Monroe” (a.k.a. Armand Monroe) waved their “flag” at the head of the march.
1983
Founded by Ross Higgins and Jacques Prince, the non-profit Quebec Gay Archives regularly present public lectures, museum and gallery exhibitions, as well as poster exhibits. Their permanent collection includes thousands of photos by famed Montréal physique photographer Allan B. Stone. In July 2013, the Archives moved from 4067 Saint-Laurent Boulevard to their current location at 1000 Atateken Street.
The building at 4067 Saint-Laurent Boulevard is was a historic and important queer hub: in addition to housing the Québec Gay Archives, it was also home to the image+nation LGBTQ+ film festival and the Divers/Cité Pride Festival.
1984
Montréal’s Village gets its name from gay businessman Bernard Rousseau, who opened the “Cinéma du Village” porn theatre, today Le National concert venue (1220 Sainte-Catherine Street East).
The city’s queer bars moved east to the Village following a concentrated Montréal police crackdown on downtown LGBTQ+ establishments that began before the 1976 summer Olympic games and peaked with the police raid on Bud’s (1250 Stanley Street) in June 1984, when 75 officers charged 122 men with being found in a common bawdy house. Rents in the east village were also much cheaper than rents downtown, and accelerated the move east.
1988
Canada’s first LGBTQ+ film festival, image+nation, is founded. Many of the early films and activist videos screened at Image + Nation dealt with resistance, liberation, AIDS and HIV. Image + Nation’s influence is significant, and current festival director Charlie Boudreau and programming director Katharine Setzer continue to program films created by and for queer people.
1989
Montréal hosts the fifth International AIDS Conference in June 1989. History was made when the New York founding chapter of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP New York) drove up to Montréal by bus for the conference. Joined by Canadian activists from AIDS Action Now! and Réaction-SIDA, some 300 protesters stormed the stage at the opening ceremony. The activists would publish the historic Montréal Manifesto, an international bill of rights for people living with HIV/AIDS.
1990
Montréal police raid the Sex Garage loft party (494 de la Gauchetière Street) in the early morning hours of July 15, 1990. More than 25 Montréal police officers take off their ID tags and beat 400 partygoers on the street. The raid ignited 36 hours of protests and clashes between Montréal’s LGBTQ+ community and the police force.
Sex Garage politicized a generation of LGBTQ+ activists who would change the Québec political landscape and establish the Divers/Cité Pride March and political-action groups to successfully fight for LGBTQ+ civil rights and improve queer life in Montréal.
Alongside the 1977 Truxx police raid, the game-changing Sex Garage police raid is widely considered to be Montréal’s Stonewall.
1991
Montréal’s famed Black & Blue all-night circuit party was founded after the police raid on Sex Garage. Said Black & Blue founder Robert Vézina, “We thought Montréal needed a breath of fresh air.” The Black & Blue Main Event was held each year during the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day in the U.S.
Attendance peaked in 1999 when B&B drew 17,000 to Montréal’s Olympic Stadium. The following year was the famous “Candle and Ribbon” edition, where the centre field of the stadium was filled with 25,000 candles to create a giant AIDS ribbon as the spectacular entranceway to the event.
When Black & Blue folded in 2023, it marked the end of an era.
1993
Inspired by Sex Garage, Montréal’s first bonafide Pride organization, Divers/Cité, was co-founded in 1993 by LGBTQ+ activists Suzanne Girard and Puelo Deir. Some 5,000 people attended Divers/Cité’s inaugural Pride march. Along with Black & Blue, Divers/Cité put Montréal on the international LGBTQ+ map.
2007
The Fierté Montréal Festival takes over the Pride parade from the now-defunct Divers/Cité, keeping festival dates in August. The Fierté Montréal Festival has since become the largest Pride celebration in the francophone world.
2017
The Fierté Montréal Festival hosts the inaugural Fierté Canada Pride, the first pan-Canadian Pride celebrations, welcoming 96 Pride organizations from across Canada to Montréal as the city and nation celebrated their 375th and 150th anniversaries respectively. Canada Pride drew 2.7 million visitors.
2019
On May 16, Québec’s National Assembly recognizes Montréal’s LGBTQ+ Village – more commonly called “Le Village” by locals – as the largest LGBTQ+ district in North America after the Castro in San Francisco and as an official place of refuge and emancipation.
2022
Montréal hosts the 24th International AIDS Conference from July 29 to August 2. AIDS 2022 convenes 15,000 participants – leading scientists, policy makers and grassroots activists – both in Montréal and virtually at the world’s largest gathering on HIV and AIDS. The AIDS conference also hosted a musical celebration with soul and gospel queen Michelle Sweeney and her singers at the Parc de L’Espoir AIDS memorial park in the LGBTQ+ Village.
2024
The 2024 edition of the Fierté Montréal Festival runs from August 1 to 11. Click here for your Montréal LGBTQ+ Pride Guide.
Richard Burnett
Richard “Bugs” Burnett is a Canadian freelance writer, editor, journalist, blogger and columnist for alt-weeklies, mainstream and LGBTQ+ publications. Bugs also knows Montréal like a drag queen knows a cosmetics counter.