‘A dark day for the LGBTQ+ movement’: Montreal Pride Parade organizers bar Jewish groups from march

Crowds and participants move along Rene Levesque Boulevard in the 2023 Montreal Pride Parade.

Two Jewish groups say they have been excluded from participating in Montreal’s upcoming Pride Parade next Sunday.

Ga’ava, a Jewish LGBTQ+ group in Quebec, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), a large community political organization, said they were informed on Wednesday by event organizer, Fierté Montréal, that they would be barred from attending.

A public statement from

Fierté Montréal published later

that day does not name either group but explained that the festival’s board of directors had “made the decision to deny participation in the Pride Parade to organizations spreading hateful discourse.”

“We refuse to allow the spaces of the Fierté Montréal to be instrumentalized in the context of a conflict that involves major violations of fundamental human rights,” the group elaborated in a lengthy Instagram post that also expressed “solidarity with the Palestinian people” and called for “an immediate and lasting peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Ga’ava

president Carlos Godoy called the announcement “a very hateful decision,” which tells “Jews that they can’t walk together in the Montreal Pride Parade.”

“It sends a signal that when LGBTQ pride is concerned, Jews can’t sit with them,” Godoy told National Post.

Fierté Montréal did not respond to a request for comment, and instead pointed to its initial statement, saying the organization was “in the midst of the festivities and working hard to deliver an exceptional festival.”

Although Fierté Montréal’s statement underscores it “remains a space for all 2SLGBTQIA+ people,” the Pride organizers did not explain whether they had taken similar actions in the past with other ethnic, religious or national groups.

“This measure is taken in the context of a complex geopolitical situation and stems from our commitment to preserving the emotional and physical safety to our communities,” the original press release says.

Julien Corona, the director of strategic communications and public relations for CIJA Quebec, called the decision “a dark day for the LGBTQ+ movement here in Quebec but also in all of Canada.”

Fierté Montréal has faced internal strife in recent years that has been amplified after Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023. During the 2024 Pride Parade in Montreal, the parade was shut down for nearly an hour by a contingent of supporters

carrying

Palestinian and Lebanese flags, resulting in a tense standoff with police.

On Wednesday, just before the decision to bar Jewish groups from participating in the parade was announced, Samya Lemrini, a local activist and 

immigration lawyer

, published a message in French on Instagram acknowledging the decision was imminent but did not reflect any sympathy on the part of Fierté Montréal towards Palestinians.

“Please don’t be fooled friends — it’s a reaction to an internal crisis because they were going to lose all their employees and because artists and groups are withdrawing one by one,” the

lawyer

wrote. “They don’t care about us, they never did. They just have no other choice.”

Lemrini is part of a breakaway LGBTQ group – Wild Pride – that has planned an

alternate

festival during the same time and place in Montreal. Social media posts from the group

include

calls to “Liberate Judaism from Zionism,” and members also participated in an event on Thursday

entitled

“Intifada on the Dancefloor.”

According to Godoy, just one performer,

Safia Nolin

, had announced she would not participate in Pride festivities due to the presence of Zionist groups. Nolin took to Instagram on Thursday and wrote that she was recently “made aware of the presence of Ga’ava, an LGBTQ+ Zionist group” and an Israeli flag had been flown at last year’s parade. “How does that make you feel? This is unacceptable.”

Godoy called on Fierté Montréal’s major sponsors, including TD Bank and the Quebec government, to condemn the announcement and ensure the organizers maintain an inclusive and safe space.

TD Bank, which is

listed

as the official presenter of the parade, did not respond in time for publication.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *