Citizens’ march in Montreal: A call to allies of the LGBTQ+ communities

Allies of the LGBTQ+ communities responded to the call launched by the Émergence Foundation to show their support and help them in their fight.

Hundreds of people gathered Sunday afternoon under a beautiful sun at the Place des Festivals in Montreal, as part of the citizen march organized by the Émergence Foundation.

“We’re here today to gather those allies and have a positive message that together we can stand together against hate,” said Olivia Baker, subject matter expert & instructor, Fondation Émergence.

This year, Fondation Émergence wanted to highlight the importance of allies, as hostile rhetoric, hatred, and attacks against LGBTQ+ people are on the rise.

“Several reports recently published in Quebec point to a marked increase in hate speech and a climate that undermines the well-being and dignity of LGBTQ+ people,” the organization explained in a news release.

“Now more than ever, the presence, listening, and support of allies are essential to counter these setbacks,” said executive director Laurent Breault.

The organization reiterated that every action counts toward “creating a genuine movement of solidarity in the face of rising hate speech and the rollback of LGBTQ+ rights here and elsewhere in the world.”

“Participating in the campaign and marching on May 17 means taking clear action and affirming that we choose to act collectively to continue moving toward a more inclusive society,” said Breault.

The march was held near Place des Festivals and the corner of Alexandre-DeSève and Sainte-Catherine East streets.

“It’s important to show up and to see that homophobia is still a thing,” said one attendee. “Transphobia is also even bigger right now.”

“There were people like kids that were being misogynistic, that were throwing around slurs and talking down to their teachers, and I’ve seen a couple articles about it, and I was just like mind blown because I felt like we have grown past that, but clearly not,” said another.

“We’re seeing an increase in hate and all its forms, so we can see a lot of intolerance,” said Baker. “And we can see a lot of hate crimes. We can see some legal backlash. For example, there are countries that decriminalize this actually, and they’re recriminalizing it.”

Speeches at the event from several well-known figures served to highlight the personal experiences of many, who attest the new data that shows a marked increase of hateful speech targeting LGBTQ2+ communities.

“One out of eight people who answered our survey said they didn’t agree with the fact that trans people would get the same rights and opportunities as everyone else, which is really the basic human rights, right? There is actually one out of four people who said that trans people make them uneasy,” said Baker. “And the same proportion said that they think trans people are confused and ought to be cured.”

Marching under a common banner and slogan ‘the ally effect is on the move’, organizers say this year’s mobilization serves as an extension of last year’s campaign, calling for allied support to turn solidarity into concrete action and to move forward towards a more inclusive society.

“We’re here today to gather those allies and have a positive message that together we can stand together against hate and we can keep moving forward instead of backwards in terms of human rights,” said Baker.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews