As Fierté Montréal begins, organizers say Jewish LGBTQ+ group excluded from parade

Thousands turned out to walk in the Montreal Pride parade, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. (Peter McCabe/The Canadian Press)

Just as the Fierté Montréal festival kicked off Thursday, the organization’s board of directors announced it would exclude groups it considers to be “spreading hateful discourse” from this year’s Pride Parade.

The announcement was made on Wednesday evening.

One of the excluded groups was quick to react.

Ga’ava, a Montreal-based, student-run Jewish LGBTQ+ group, responded on social media, saying it was deeply shocked to learn that LGBTQ+ Jewish people and their allies would be excluded from the 2025 parade.

“This exclusion, based on flimsy, politically motivated reasons decided behind closed doors under pressure from groups that hate Jews, deny Israel’s existence, and whose members celebrated the atrocities of October 7, 2023, is a deeply discriminatory and undemocratic process. This decision will be profoundly hurtful to LGBTQ+ Jews,” said Carlos A. Godoy L, the volunteer president at Ga’ava.

In an interview, a spokesperson for Fierté Montréal said the board’s decision followed complaints received by the organization’s ombudsman and was in line with new policies implemented this year.

“It’s very important to clarify: no person or group is judged based on their faith when it comes to participating in any of our activities,” said board member Marlot Marleau.

“Any group or faith that shares our values is welcome. What’s regulated is speech that doesn’t align with the values of Fierté Montréal.”

Fierté Montréal declined to specify which other groups were barred from participating, or to provide examples of how they were allegedly spreading hateful discourse.

In the press release, Fierté Montréal also clarified its position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling for immediate and lasting peace and condemning the “ongoing genocide” in Gaza.

“We denounce all forms of violence, we amplify the voices of queer communities who, on our stages and in our spaces, express their support for oppressed peoples, particularly the Palestinian people, and their opposition to genocide,” Fierté Montréal said in the release.

The organization also noted that the measure was taken within the context of a complex geopolitical situation.

“This decision is an ethical one: we refuse to allow the spaces of the Fierté Montréal festival to be instrumentalized in the context of a conflict that involves major violations of fundamental human rights.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), which has worked closely with Ga’ava for years, has also been excluded from participating in the parade. In an interview, Eta Yudin, the Quebec vice-president of CIJA, said they were formally advised of the decision by email.

“What it amounts to is excluding the Jewish community and its organizations from marching in Pride, a festival that purports to celebrate diversity and inclusion by ensuring that the Jewish community and its affiliated organizations are not participating,” she said.

Yudin added that Jewish people are facing a double burden of stigma and antisemitism — both as Jewish Quebecers and as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“And that is devastating. And this, to me, is just yet another incident of Jews being excluded from standing together against hate and in a time when hate is rising, and that is of deep concern to me.”

CIJA denies claims it was spreading hateful discourse and called the decision to exclude some groups an “egregious mistake.”

Oswaldo Gutierrez Bayardi, Fierté Montréal’s communications director, acknowledged that not everyone would agree with the decision but stressed that it was necessary.

“We will not allow this to be instrumentalized. That’s why we keep repeating everybody — every LGBTQ individual — is allowed to come into our spaces and to enjoy and celebrate with us the visibility that is still necessary for LGBTQ people. We are not targeting any faith. Everybody is included,” Gutierrez Bayardi said.

On Wednesday, singer-songwriter Safia Nolin announced she was pulling out of Fierté Montréal’s ImmiX show, citing the participation of Gaa’va in the parade as the reason.

“Last year, the Israeli flag was in the parade. How does that make you feel? This is unacceptable, she wrote.

“I don’t want to turn a blind eye and participate in a Pride that doesn’t listen to its own groups, that doesn’t want to speak out about genocide, and that doesn’t stand on the right side of history. That’s 100 percent the opposite of what Pride is supposed to be."

Fierté Montréal said its decision was unrelated to Nolin’s withdrawal.

In recent months, about 20 queer groups publicly cut ties with Fierté Montréal, accusing the organization of fostering a toxic environment that excluded communities they claim to support.

The festival is underway and will end with the parade on Aug. 10.