Q is the big letter on the edge of downtown, all lit up at night and shining over the Village.
Q is for queer. Where same-sex partners can get married in an art deco museum that was once a bathhouse. Where visitors learn French the very best way - from that special guy or gal they meet and spend some time with. Where there's a "lesbian haircuts and bike shop" at one end of Amherst Street and a lesbian fashion boutique at the other.
Q is for queer-friendly. Maybe because Montreal is a city of artists, or because eccentricity and flamboyance are considered normal. Like biker-type guys laughing with drag queens - and not at them. Montrealers are so laid back about who zooms whom that it's often hard to tell who's gay and who's not!
The Divers Cite Festival
Credit: Stephan Poulin - www.tourisme-montreal.org
Montreal Pride Celebrations
Credit: www.fiertemontrealpride.com
Video: Comunidad Gay de Montreal
YouTube User Credit: ocorta
Just For Laughs Festival
Credit: www.tourisme-montreal.org
Video: Gay Cam does the Gay Village (or Daniel's Gift to Google)
YouTube User Credit: TourismeMontreal
View of downtown Montreal from the Old Port of Montreal
Credit: Stephan Poulin - www.tourisme-montreal.org
Montreal Pride Celebrations
Credit: www.fiertemontrealpride.com
Montreal International Jazz Festival
Credit: Jean Francois Leblanc - www.tourisme-montreal.org
BBCM Foundation Black and Blue Festival
Credit: Stephan Poulin - www.tourisme-montreal.org
Q is for quirky. Like drag shows in French, franglais (our mixture of French and English) and heavily accented English. Like a shop in Old Montreal with the title "Fairyland" carved in the 100-year-old stone over the door. The words "Gay Love" spray-stencilled onto a Village sidewalk in the Village, or a pansy growing out of a crack in another - and thriving!
Q is for queer partying: gay and non-gay partiers together, at clubs and major events. The Village has the regular line-up of bars both small and large that cater to all genders, together and/or separately. Dance clubs, including afterhours, are generally mixed.
Q is for Qu'est-ce que vous attendez ? (What are you waiting for!)
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Festival des Arts
1st July to
11th July 2010
11 days of LGBT arts fest
» moreDivers Cite
27th July to
2nd August 2010
LGBT arts & music fest
» moreMontreal White Party
1st August to
8th August 2010
House / Trance / Electronic
» moreMontreal Pride
12th August to
15th August 2010
4 day Fiesta! festival
» morePenvers/Cite
16th August 2010
Queer Festival - dates TBC
» moreMontreal Burlesque Fest
23rd September to
26th September 2010
Strip Tease festival
» moreMontreal LGBT Film Fest
16th October 2010
Film Fest - dates TBC
» more

Gay Village, Montreal, QC, Canada
Lat/Lng: 45.519233, -73.557384