Fierté Montréal does not represent us
An overview of the opposition to Fierté Montréal
Montréal, July 2025 — Once again, marching season is upon us, and with it, its usual share of contradictions. As rainbow flags fly proudly in the windows of big-name chains, anger is rising in our communities. What Montreal Pride claims to celebrate — our lives, our loves, our struggles — is stripped of meaning in a corporatized staging where police parade, sponsors linked to deadly industries buy themselves a progressive image, and the most marginalized voices are systematically pushed aside.
But this year again, forces are organizing themselves. Our communities are resisting. Our prides are unruly.
Wild Pride: a community-based alternative
Born out of strong critiques of Fierté Montréal, Wild Pride is a community-based and social response to mainstream Pride. The festival will take place from July 30 to August 18, and will include a march on August 10, held in parallel of the official Pride parade.
Its aim is to create a Pride dedicated “to queer, trans, racialized, Muslim, Jewish, aboriginal, disabled, neurodivergent, homeless, undocumented people, and many others”1. The organizing collective rejects corporate sponsorships, and instead relies on self-management, free and open access, and activities centered on marginalized communities. Wild Pride follows in the footsteps of activists and community groups like Helem Montreal and Voix Juive Indépendante, who have denounced Fierté Montréal's complicity in the pinkwashing of the Palestinian genocide and its treatment of marginalized communities. In fact, the Wild Pride collective explicitly affirms its anti-Zionist position and its opposition to Pinkwashing2.
With no government funding or corporate partners, Wild Pride offers a program that spans nearly three weeks. It features performances, parties, collective care days, anti-racism events, intergenerational activities, and more — all organized by and for the communities concerned.
Rad Pride back at it for third time
On the margins of the official Fierté Montréal events, another initiative is also gaining momentum : Rad Pride, organized by several groups and activists — including P!nk Bloc MTL, FLIP, TRAPS, FAGS and OPEN Maisonneuve — is back for its third consecutive year.
Last June, the organizers issued a public call for the third edition of Rad Pride, set to take place on August 9, 2025 at 9:30 p.m. at Square Émilie-Gamelin. Describing itself as both festive and political, the event positions itself clearly as a break from institutional Pride celebrations.
Since 2023, Rad Pride has taken to the streets on the eve of the official parade to offer a radical political alternative to institutional Pride. Last year, the demonstration was met with brutal repression by the SPVM. But batons, arrests and targeted provocations didn't stop protesters from taking over the Village for hours on end. The night ended with a street dance party, as police ultimately withdrew from the village.
In the call published on pink-bloc.info, the organizers demand “a night where autonomy is real, where joy becomes a weapon, where pride — real pride — is dangerous”. A queer space of protest: explicitly anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist and fiercely opposed to any form of partnership with law enforcement or big business.
The text quickly garnered significant support: over thirty community, student and activist collectives — including Mubaadarat, Alternative Queer UdeM, Euphorie dans le Genre, the Coalition Defund la Police, the Désinvestir pour la Palestine collective, and Front Rose (the media outlet where you're reading this article) — have officially endorsed the call. This broad coaliation reflects a growing political rally around Rad Pride, driven by shared concerns: anti-capitalism, opposition to pinkwashing and solidarity with Palestine, the fight against police violence, anti-fascism, mobilization against rising transphobia, and criticism of Pride's commodification.
As criticism of Fierté Montréal intensifies, Rad Pride has become a focal point for the most radical and militant wings of Montréal's queer community. Rad Pride reclaims a pride deeply rooted in social protest and the pursuit of a better world.
A break from community-based organizations
As we reported last March, a coalition of LGBTQ+ youth organizations cut ties with the festival, while various organizations publicly condemned it. This trend of community organizations breaking away from Fierté Montréal has only intensified, with many now taking part in Wild Pride or endorsing the Rad Pride call.
Can an LGBTQ+ festival like Fierté Montréal truly maintain its legitimacy if community groups continue to abandon it en masse? On what grounds will Fierté be able to claim to represent the community if this trend persists?
Fierté Inc. Responds to Opposition with Contempt
Facing mounting criticism, Fierté Montréal has intensified its public relations efforts. General Manager Simon Gamache published an open letter in Fugues naming the festival’s critics but failing to engage with their concerns seriously. Notably, the letter makes no mention of Fierté’s collaboration with the SPVM in a brutal operation against queer activists last year, when police blocked a march protesting Zionist complicity. Instead, Gamache dismissively implies that these criticisms are baseless. Even more troubling, he states, “The SPVM is an important operational and strategic ally of Fierté Montréal. We learn from each other, without forgetting past mistakes, in order to improve support for sexual and gender diversity communities”3.
An investigation by Pivot reveals that several former Fierté collaborators say they were used as tokens of diversity, marginalized from decision-making, poorly compensated, or even repressed when speaking out against internal abuses. Gamache dismisses these claims as “misinformation.”
A Busy Start to August
With Wild Pride, Rad Pride, and other spontaneous initiatives likely to arise in opposition to Fierté Montréal, August promises to be a charged month of political activity, conflict, and mobilization within queer communities. This surge of energy is especially crucial as the government pushes through a wave of troubling bills — notably Bill C-2 and PL97 — which have sparked growing protests. Let’s hope this momentum continues well beyond August, for another intense year of struggle!