What’s new

19 Aug, 2022 Two terrific Community Days

After two years of absence, Fierté Montréal came roaring back and organized two community days on Friday August 5th and Saturday August 6th.

The Archives gaies du Québec (AGQ) were there, at a stand on the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Saint-Timothée. Despite the heat, the crowd was very enthusiastic. As usual, we handed out postcards and copies of the Archigai to people from across the world and answered questions.

This was also the opportunity to invite people over to the AGQ’s LE SIDA EN AFFICHES exhibition at our offices.

19 Aug, 2022 Le sida en affiches

The LE SIDA EN AFFICHES exhibition was initially meant as a historical overview of the extent of the fight against AIDS based on the Archives gaies du Québec’s (AGQ) extensive AIDS poster collection. This event was planned as part the 24th International AIDS Conference that took place in Montreal between July 29th and August 2nd 2022 at the Palais des Congrès.

Taking place at the AGQ’s offices, the exhibition received financial support from Fierté Montréal, as well as from Fugues and the Caisse Desjardins du Quartier-Latin. From August 1st to 7th, over two hundred visitors came to see thirty posters from around the world that were displayed throughout our offices. Visitors were mostly from outside of Montreal – some came from as far as India, South America, or Australia – but also many English-speaking visitors from Montreal, Quebec, and Canada!

We received warm thanks for the quality of our hospitality and of the display.

19 Aug, 2022 A well-deserved honour

Armand Monroe received the John-Banks prize, from the hands of his friend John Banks himself.

In the 1950s, at a time when homosexuality was both a crime and a disease, Armand Monroe succeeded in organizing openly gay public events. Known as “La Monroe”, Armand Monroe hosted female impersonation evenings until the 1980s, most notably at the PJ’s club. He also participated in Montreal’s first Pride March, organized by John Banks in 1979. He has been a pionneer in the affirmation and recognition of homosexual rights, paving the way for today’s gender and sexual diversity. The John-Banks prize is a reward for a life of commitment to LGBTQ2S+ causes. He recently made a donation of text documents, objects, photos and paintings to the Archives gaies du Québec.

Congratulations to “La Monroe”!

29 Jul, 2022 An important commemoration and re-dedication

Between 1990-1993, ACT UP Montréal protested the inaction of the Québec government in the face of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the parc de l’Espoir on the corner of rues Panet and Sainte-Catherine Est is the living monument of their activism.

On July 31, 2022 at 19h00, the Mémoire vivante du parc de l’Espoir is hosting a re-dedication ceremony in memory of those who have died and are living with HIV. The program includes speeches by Mayor Valérie Plante and Dr. Jean Pierre Routy, Montréal organizer of the 29th International AIDS Conference, a musical performance by Michelle Sweeney and the screening of a short film outlining the career of ACT UP MTL, produced in partnership with the Archives gaies du Québec.

Free to all.

29 Jul, 2022 Montreal Pride

Community days

This year, Community Days will take place on Friday August 5th and Saturday August 6th, from 11 am to 6 pm. The Archive gaies du Québec’s stand will be located at the corner of Sainte-Catherine Est and Saint-Timothée.

Come and meet us!

Pride parade is back!

The Montreal Pride Parade is back this year. As is tradition, it is the final event of Pride week, taking place on Sunday, August 7th.

The Archives gaies du Québec will be participating. Come join our group at noon at section 6 on René-Lévesque West. Unfortunately there will be no vehicle available for people with mobility issues. Don’t forget to bring water!

29 Jul, 2022 Aids in posters

From August 1st to 7th, the Archives gaies du Québec will be hosting an exhibition called Le sida en affiches (AIDS in posters). More than 30 posters from around the world, conserved in our collections, illustrate AIDS awareness campaigns from the 80s onwards among various LGBTQ2S+ communities.

This exhibition was made possible thanks to Fierté Montréal, as part of Pride celebrations, and in partnership with Fugues and the Caisse Desjardins du Quartier-Latin, in order to highlight the 24th International AIDS Conference taking place in Montreal this year.

The exhibition space located at the 1000, Atateken suite 201A will be open to the public between 1 and 5 pm from August 1st to 7th. To access, enter the code 2011 at the main entrance. We are located at the top of the staircase behind a red door.

29 Jul, 2022 Board elections

The AGQ’s 2022 Annual General Assembly took place on July 10th. As with every year, half of the Board members were elected.

This year, four (4) Councillor positions, as well as the Vice-president and Treasurer positions were to be determined. Iain Blair was elected Vice-president, Raymond Thibault, Treasurer. Three Councillor positions were filled : Bernard Mulaire (Councillor no 1), Marc-André Bernier (Councillor no 4) and Paul Ungureanu (Councillor no 5). The Councillor no 3 position remains vacant.

19 Jul, 2022 Welcome, Billy Errington!

It is with great pleasure that the Archives gaies du Québec welcome a young British PhD candidate from the University of Durham in Great Britain.

Thanks to a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Billy Errington will be staying with us for about two months. In addition to doing research for his thesis on the role of motherhood and queer identity in contemporary Quebec cinema, he will also participate in the exhibition on HIV/AIDS curated by the AGQ as part of the Montreal Pride celebrations in August. This talented francophile researcher will easily be able to explore the history of motherhood in the francophone LGBTQ2S+ communities of Quebec.

We wish him a fruitful stay.

19 Jul, 2022 The Archives gaies du Québec in France!

From June 6 to 20, 2022, Simone Beaudry-Pilotte, our archivist, and Jonathan Proulx-Guimond, our communications assistant, went to France – more precisely to Paris and Montpellier – to conclude the Quebec component of the France-Québec exchange. In the French capital, our representatives met with Karine Beaudoin and Sylvie Lannegrand from the association Les Amis d’Yves Navarre; Yves Sartiaux, member of the Grey Pride organization; and André Landry. The AGQ conserves archives from Yves Navarre and André Landry. These meetings allowed our organization to gather additional information and to deepen its knowledge of these two individuals.

In Montpellier, Simone and Jonathan spent several days researching the Yves Navarre fonds at the Médiathèque Émile-Zola. Accompanied by Stephen Schofield, a guest artist, they met with Karine Beaudoin, Brigitte Louichon, and Henri Dhellemmes of the association Les Amis d’Yves Navarre. This was an opportunity to make connections and establish complementary links between the Yves Navarre fonds in this French media library and the fonds held in Quebec at the BAnQ and at the AGQ. It was also an opportunity for promising discussions laying the groundwork for future collaborations between our two organizations.

In summary, it was a very pleasant and enriching trip.

19 Jul, 2022 A Generous donation from the Écomusée du fier monde

Following its yearly auction, the Écomusée du fier monde gave the Archives gaies du Québec a $1050 cheque for the sale of a work by Betty Goodwin.

We would especially like to thank Éric Giroux, Director and Research and Collections Official, René Binette, Strategic Projects Advisor, and Manon Belleville, Executive Assistant, without whom this generous donation could not have happened.

19 Jul, 2022 A guided tour of the AGQ

This June 27th, 2022, a student group from Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) of McGill University received a guided tour of the Archives gaies du Québec’s collections. This visit, organized in collaboration with QPIRG McGill, had the goal to introduce this community to the AGQ’s collections.

It is V. Samoylenko who welcomed the fifteen or so people and briefly presented the AGQ before giving them a tour of the space. A Q & A period followed. During the visit, the group was able to look at our textual archives and pins collections. Thank you QPIRG McGill for this fruitful collaboration!

19 Jul, 2022 A new face at the AGQ!

For the next six months – and hoping even longer – the Archives gaies du Québec team will be welcoming Clémence, a young and dynamic graduate with a Master’s degree in Library Science. A volunteer at the AGQ last winter, she is currently on an employment program subsidized by Emploi-Québec.

She will be processing the AGQ’s book collection as well as the posters donated by the LGBTQ+ Community Centre. In addition, she will be keeping the AGQ’s social media regularly updated.

WELCOME TO THE TEAM!

01 Jun, 2022 An upcoming exhibit

This summer, the Archives gaies du Québec will participate in the celebrations organized by Fierté Montréal. To mark the 24th International AIDS Conference to be held in Montreal in July 2022, the Archives gaies du Quebec will be using its collections to curate an exhibit, tentatively titled Visibility and Activism: A History of the Fight against HIV/AIDS in Quebec.

This project is made possible thanks to the financial support of Fierté Montréal. This year, the activities of Fierté Montreal will be spread throughout the summer, from May 21 to August 7, to help dissipate the gloom of the last two years. In addition, Fierté Montréal will finance activities in other cities across the province such as Val-d’Or, Saint-Hyacinthe, Chicoutimi, Magog and Sherbrooke, in order to reach out to 2SLGBTQIA+ people who face different realities and challenges.

We thank Simon Gamache, Executive Director of Fierté Montréal, and his team, for selecting our project.

01 Jun, 2022 Have a good trip!

As part of a France-Quebec exchange, the Archives gaies du Québec will send three people to France for a fifteen-day stay next June.

Artist Stephen Schofield, archivist Simone Beaudry-Pilotte and researcher Jonathan Proulx-Guimond will first travel to Paris to make contact with LGBTQ+ organizations, then to the Médiathèque de Montpellier to meet the members of les Amis d’Yves Navarre and consult their archives. From these documents, they will develop a body of research which will then be used to curate an exhibit upon their return.

Yves Navarre, a writer and gay rights activist who lived in Montreal for over a year since the beginning of the 1990s, was the recipient of the Prix Goncourt (1980) and the Prix Amic of the Académie Française (1992). He died in 1994. It is thanks to the volunteer work of guest curator Claude Gosselin that this project could be carried out. We thank the Ministère des relations internationales et de la francophonie du Québec for its financial support and LOJIQ (Les offices jeunesses internationaux du Québec) for Simone’s and Jonathan’s plane tickets.

We wish them a successful trip and good weather!