Montreal Gay Pride Parade This Sunday: Will It Feature A Shirtless Justin Trudeau?


Montreal Gay Pride celebrates its 10th year this week with a massive parade to culminate the LGBT celebration this Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern time. Billed as the biggest gay pride celebration in the French-speaking world, organizers of the one-week event are assuring the public that this week’s festival will be “more flamboyant than ever.”

According to CBC News, the festival “includes concerts, comedy shows, DJ sets, panel discussions, sporting events and art exhibitions.”

As with other gay pride celebrations like in Toronto and Vancouver, the festivities aim to recognize and celebrate the achievements of individuals in the LGBT community. The theme of this year’s Montreal gay pride is the color green, which, according to organizers, is “a symbol of life, nature, rebirth, prosperity, chance, and hope.”

For individuals who intend to peruse the Montreal gay pride detailed schedule for the week of August 8-14, Montreal Gazette provides the internet link. One of the ways that Montreal’s gay festival sets itself apart from other gay pride celebrations around the world is by calling itself by its French name, Fierté Montréal. Fierté is the French word for pride.

According to Fierté Montreal Pride, this Sunday’s parade will begin at the corner of Saint-Mathieu Street and travel east on René-Lévesque Boulevard, culminating on Sanguinet Street and the Montreal Gay Village. Parade watchers are expected to proactively reserve their spots at different points of the parade coverage area — so many groups of people are expected to be at the scenes long before the parade begins.

Therefore, watchers may want to prepare for an extremely crowded and noisy setting by bringing umbrellas, portable chairs, snacks, hand fans, drinking water, and dousing themselves with lots of sunscreen lotion. According to the Weather Network, the temperature during Sunday’s Fierté Montreal Pride parade is going to be 24 Celsius, but it will feel more like 30 Celsius. Although the sun will be out, rain is likewise a 40 percent possibility. This Sunday isn’t expected to be a windy day, so hand fans would be a great idea to brave the heat from the crowds as well as the afternoon sun.

For those who would rather go straight to the Montreal Gay Village, this Sunday’s epicenter of the Fierté Montreal Pride parade, taking the city’s subway system, which is called the Metro, would be a great idea. From the Metro, commuters can get off at the Beaudry station, which takes them right in front of the village. More details on the city’s transit system are provided by STM, Montreal’s transit authority.

Montreal is the only Canadian city to have hosted the Summer Olympics, and that was in 1976. Today, Montreal is the biggest and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. It is Canada’s second-biggest city. The city is predominantly French-speaking, which is why streets and traffic signs are written in French with no English translation provided.

Hence, it would be an excellent idea to have a smattering of French terms to get around the city with three faces: modern Montreal, the old city that is reminiscent of French architecture of the Victor Hugo era, and the Underground City, which is considered the biggest of its kind in the whole world, according to A View on Cities.

The Montreal Gazette has confirmed that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will attend the Montreal Pride parade on Sunday. Previously, the prime minister also graced the Toronto and Vancouver gay pride parades, definitely boosting the attendance rate of these LGBT festivities by his mere presence. What remains to be confirmed, though, is whether Justin Trudeau will take off his shirt during the Fierté Montreal Pride parade.

This will surely up the ante for the gay and lesbian celebrations, as Trudeau kept his shirt on during the Toronto and Vancouver festivities. Perhaps the temperature in Montreal this Sunday will convince him to do otherwise. As the Weather Network reports, there have been two sightings of the shirtless prime minister in Canada which could be due to the sweltering heat all over the country.

Will Justin Trudeau make that three for the Fierté Montreal Pride parade?

[Photo by Ian Willms/Getty Images]

Share this article: Montreal Gay Pride Parade This Sunday: Will It Feature A Shirtless Justin Trudeau?
More from Inquisitr