Montreal is one of my favorite cities in the world. Its Gay Village is a place of beauty, acceptance, debauchery, and fun. Unfortunately, this past Saturday, an embracing LGBT couple was treated in a way that was very uncharacteristic of the neighborhood.
Gai-Écoute will stage a “kiss-in” on Monday to protest against homophobia and support a gay couple who claim they were insulted and beaten in Montreal’s Gay Village last weekend just because they embraced.
The protest is planned for 6 p.m. at Place Simon-Valois, at Valois Ave. and Ontario St. E., not far from where the couple says the attack happened on Saturday around 11:30 p.m.
“A kiss-in is first of all to say homophobic acts are unacceptable, and it’s an event in solidarity with the victims,” Maryse Bézaire, director of communications for Gai-Écoute, said.
The organization offers a bilingual listening and information service and has a mission to provide support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
A kiss-in is a peaceful protest inspired by the sit-ins initiated by the Civil Rights Movement in the United States in the 1960s. Protesters will kiss to make the point that it’s okay for people of the same sex to be affectionate with each other in public, Bézaire said.
The Journal de Montréal reported on Thursday that a couple, identified by their first names, Simon and Sébastien, kissed before entering a Ste-Catherine St. E. bar. They said a man accompanied by a group shouted at them: “Get the f— out, fags! Move along!”
The pair said they were both punched in the face by the man. The couple fled and about 45 minutes later returned to the area and entered the bar, where they spotted the group. The couple left the bar, but said they were followed out and a second beating ensued before they managed to run away.
They filed a complaint with police the next day, Montreal Police spokesperson André Leclerc said on Thursday. Police are investigating the couple’s claims and the motive behind the attack to determine if it was a hate crime, he said.
The couple have been in touch with Gai-Écoute, Bézaire said. They haven’t decided whether they want to give more interviews, she said, but they’re expected at the kiss-in.
As of Thursday evening, more than 200 people had indicated on Gai-Écoute’s Facebook page that they plan to attend the event.
We hope the event goes well and it will be received without protest.
So was this attack out of character for the Gay Village, for Montreal? Montrealgazette.com gives us the following information, but I am not sure if it is for the neighborhood, city, or province.
The attack is not an isolated incident, Bézaire said. Gai-Écoute’s helpline fields an average of 1.2 calls per day reporting homophobic acts.
As well, data culled from Gai-Écoute’s anonymous online “acts of homophobia registry” showed that 256 people reported 958 homophobic attacks during an 18-month period between 2012 and 2013, Bézaire said.
Forty-three per cent of the acts were of a criminal nature, and 17 per cent of those involved physical violence, she said. More than half said they didn’t report the incidents to police, Bézaire added, mainly out of fear of reprisals. – montrealgazette.com
Is this a case of "kiss it and make it better?" We hope so. We love you Montreal.
h/t: montrealgazette.com
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