The Jews are back. Again.
“LGBTQ Jews are in the Pride parade this year and we are very, very happy to be,” says Ga’ava president Carlos Godoy.
The contingent of queer Jews expected to march in the Montreal Pride parade, Aug. 9 which caps off the 20th annual edition of the Montreal Pride Festival, will be there, “and expect lots of rainbow Stars of David flags,” Godoy told The CJN.
Their return was welcome, and expected, particularly in light of the tumult last year, when Ga’ava, the 20-year-old Jewish community’s LGBTQ+ advisory committee in Quebec, was excluded from participating.
The call for exclusion last year was stoked by opposition from radical elements in the queer community who took issue with the way Godoy characterized, in a CJN story attempts to keep Zionist groups out of Montreal Pride. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) was also expelled for the same reason.
Just 11 days after that decision sparked fury and backlash from the public, private sponsors and government officials, and amid a slew of resignations that shook the organization, Pride relented. Jews were readmitted as a community, but without large identifying banners or official recognition of Ga’ava or CIJA, and were invited back with a public apology. Some 120 marchers showed up, surrounded by multiple layers of security and under the watchful eye of dozens of Montreal police officers.
“It’s impossible to forget what happened last year,” Eta Yudin, senior vice-president (Quebec) of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, told The CJN in the runup to Pride 2026. “Jewish people should never have to choose between their identity and participating in any space, including LGBTQ+ spaces, and there is no space from which Jews should be excluded. Last year, the right decision was made in welcoming the Jewish community back, and we are pleased to see them once again participating in Montréal Pride this year.”
This year’s event will have a new format, featuring less “corporatist” branding and more thematic contingents. “That means instead of, say, Jews marching between Walmart and TD Bank,” says Godoy, “we will be part of a group called ‘Faith and Cultures’. We were consulted by Montreal Pride on rolling out this new way of doing things and we’ve bought into it. They’ve decided to put communities and individuals first.” As such, LGBTQ Jews will be part of a section with individuals of numerous faiths and cultures celebrating the duality and intersection of faith or culture and being a person of the LGBTQI+ community.
“We will be Jews in Pride, and Ga’ava is coordinating participants. The emphasis is not the organization, but on individuals, and so we are working in a very well-identified Jews-in-Pride section.”
He rejected suggestions that placing Jewish marchers in a ‘Faith and Cultures’ section represents ghettoization rather than integration in the overall Pride space. “Absolutely not. Montreal Pride has shown great openness of spirit in creating this section, and we were consulted based on our long breadth of experience. They are trying this, and we’re supporting them in this attempt.” He says Jews would have walked together regardless of format. “Representation does not equal ghettoization, and this visibility that is given to us this year is akin to the visibility that we have been given in the past 20 years of Montreal Pride.”
Berlin attack adds to security concerns
Pride did add a caveat: “In an international context marked by violence, armed conflicts, genocides, forced displacement, and systemic oppression,” organizers suspended a parade category that included diplomatic and consular bodies and foreign delegations, and have banned national flags and messaging linked to international conflicts or foreign politics from the Faith and Culture cortege, “to avoid conflating religious and cultural affiliation with geopolitical discourse.”
Also this year, security concerns are front-of-mind following the July 26 car-ramming attack on a Berlin Pride event by a German-born Islamist which killed one person and injured 29 others. Fierté Montréal’s interim executive director Higino Monteiro stated “the events that took place in Berlin deeply sadden us. We express our full solidarity with the organization, those affected, their loved ones, and the entire community.” He also called for “unity within our movements to support our communities and protect the spaces that allow all people to live their identities freely, celebrate, and advocate for their rights in safety.”
Pride Montreal organizers declined further comment “out of respect for the work of the relevant authorities and the ongoing investigations into the events in Berlin.” Godoy agreed the attack left people nervous. “After the horrific radical Islamic attack in Berlin at the Christopher Street Day Pride festival, I am horrified as well, and I’ve been in touch with my counterparts in Germany, whom I visited last November, to express our heartfelt solidarity. I know that people are concerned.” Still, he hopes to surpass last year’s attendance.
In 2025, the Jewish contingent was easy to spot among thousands of marchers, dozens of organized groups, elaborate floats, costumes, oversized banners and festooned vehicles. Jewish marchers wearing Ga’ava T-shirts and carrying rainbow Star of David flags, were ringed by multiple layers of security provided by Pride and Federation CJA, along with a phalanx of heavily armed and armoured police officers on bicycles, and a convoy of police vehicles slowly rolling along René-Lévesque Boulevard parallel to the delegation.
That security though, was not enough to prevent two incidents. Near the end of the parade route, a group of anti-Israel protesters disrupted the procession for approximately two minutes, rushing into the crowd carrying banners and Palestinian and Antifa flags, chanting anti-Israel slogans, before being robustly dispatched by the SPVM’s Special Intervention Squad.
A few minutes earlier, about halfway through the route, someone approached the Jewish contingent from the side and threw a liquid-filled balloon at the marchers, striking three people with the substance, which reeked heavily of urine.
The assailant was restrained by two police officers and a private guard assigned to the Jewish group.
Police arrest a woman who threw a foul-smelling liquid at a Jewish participant in the Montreal Pride Parade, Aug. 10, 2025. (Credit: Joel Ceausu).
Not returning
Montreal resident Vicky Croisetière, 36, was arrested and charged with three counts of assault, which if convicted, can each carry a prison sentence of up to two years. She’ll make her next court appearance in November. Asked if CIJA would advocate for consideration of hate motivation in the proceedings, CIJA’s Yudin told The CJN “we are, of course, following developments closely regarding the unacceptable incident from last year. As in all cases of antisemitism, it is vital that our justice system hold those who incite or act on hate accountable.”
One of the victims of last year’s assault won’t be returning to march on Sunday. Mathieu Gelbhart told The CJN he feels “more estranged from Pride than I used to.” He’ll spend some time in the festival village this weekend, “though I’m grateful to everyone from our community who will be there and visible.” As a Jewish gay man, he says, he doesn’t take for granted “that in so many countries people still can live openly or safely. I just hope this year’s Pride is a chance to celebrate, support one another, and remember why it matters, without the controversies overshadowing it.”
Asked about the two incidents last year, a Montreal Pride spokesperson told The CJN: “These events remind us of the importance of remaining vigilant. For Fierté Montréal, safety is not one consideration among many: it is an absolute priority. All decisions related to the organization of the Festival are made with the sole objective of ensuring public safety, without compromise.”
This year, the security posture will likely be even more robust. While Pride, Ga’ava and CIJA would not comment on specific measures, Godoy said Federation CJA remains closely involved, and “takes the safety of LGBTQ Jews in the Pride parade very seriously and, as in previous years, will provide us with the necessary layers of security for our participation in the festive Montreal Pride parade to go as smoothly as possible.”
Pride Montreal says it spends nearly 10 per cent of its undisclosed budget on security, prevention and “well-being” measures, the organization stating last month it was working closely with Montreal police, the city of Montreal, the Sûreté du Québec, local police stations, the Montreal Fire Department and mobility services, “to review site plans in detail, analyze every entrance and access point, and procedures are continuously reassessed.”
Festival organizers say approximately 300 security personnel will be assigned to parade operations Sunday, in addition to coordination with public authorities. Police vehicles will block all cross streets and emergency-access bridges along the route to prevent unauthorized vehicle access. A large police deployment was already evident in the Gay Village, as the festival kicked off on July 31.
Change in tone
The “noise” surrounding Israel and Jewish participation has calmed somewhat compared with last year. But there’s also been a change in tone within Montreal Pride itself: During last year’s internal turmoil, much of the controversy centred on the rifts between factions, many of whom supported exclusion of Jewish groups, while denouncing the organization as insufficiently anti-corporate, radical, representative or inclusive. Directors and nominating committee members resigned, major corporate sponsors threatened to withdraw support, and politicians of various stripes leaned on organizers to reconsider what many Montrealers viewed as a discriminatory act.
This time around, it feels a lot different, says Godoy. “As always, we have offered our total collaboration, and I feel that they are wholeheartedly committed to seeing LGBT Jews walking in the Pride parade in as uneventful a parade as possible.” As for the diminished controversy, Godoy said, “fads come and go. LGBTQ Jews have been in the Montreal Pride parade for 20 years nonstop, and we’ve always been there. We will always be there. It’s not news anymore.”
Ga’ava has already been busy this Pride season with a Kabbalat Shabbat service at Congregation Shaare Zedek in west end Notre Dame de Grâce, a film screening in Côte Saint-Luc, a festive pop-up downtown pub crawl, and as is now tradition, the Ga’ava bagels-and-coffee parade party.
Pride belongs to everyone, Godoy said. “Groups that disagree with the presence of LGBTQ Jews in the Pride parade have broken off and are doing their own thing. I encourage them to continue doing their own thing.” That’s the thing about a society with freedom of choice and freedom of association, he says, “if you disagree with the mainstream, walk away and start your own fringe movement.”
Joel has spent his entire adult life scribbling. For two decades, he freelanced for more than a dozen North American and European trade publications, writing on home decor, HR, agriculture, defense technologies and more. Having lived at 14 addresses in and around Greater Montreal, for 17 years he worked as reporter for a local community newspaper, covering the education, political and municipal beats in seven cities and boroughs. He loves to bike, swim, watch NBA and kvetch about politics.