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!

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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