Three Years for Radical Queers
Politics and Playtime at the Third Radical Queer Semaine
The space at 90 de la Gauchetière St. has transformed.
Clusters of queers gather around a hearty-looking, dumpster-dived spread at the table, while others lounge on couches and in corners, chatting together. Near the back of the room is a corridor that leads to a lofty exhibition space, ornamented with charged bodies. A group is participating in a spoken-word, film performance hybrid, involving an ancient looking camera. The space is warm, safe, politicized. Its strong sense of community seems to emanate from the walls.
This is just one moment of the over 40 events, workshops and parties on the docket of Radical Queer Semaine, running until March 20.
Jordan Arseneault, one of the dozen-or-so in the RQS organizing collective, has been planning since November to make this 10-day community queerfest come to life. Though he expects between 450 to 1,200 folks to pass through the space over the next week and participate in the epic events and dance parties, he is quick to say that this space is about building something that is stronger than their “mega film, mega workshop” programme or a revolution on the dance floor.
“When it comes down to it, these kinds of events and this kind of community-building, art-making and space-sharing are useful—this isn’t only about having a good time, even though you’ll have a good time. [We are] building a social resistance core,” he said, emphatically. “Because you just never know when any of the things that have been gained [for queers] in the past will be threatened again.”
For the first time this year, he explained, RQS has a beneficiary. That person is Elias Dean, a transman taking on the l’État civil du Québec in a court challenge over the constitutionality of their requirements for legal sex designation. Anything the collective makes beyond next year’s start-up fund will go towards this court challenge and the potential precedent it may set in Quebec. Dean will also be backed-up beyond the beneficent with RQS solidarity.
Via RQS, Arseneault explained, the community will be there. “We would always come out and help people who are in need of support because of systematic repression,” he said. “Maybe not necessarily with our money every time, but [by] making noise and making people feel like they’re supported. That’s the power you feel when you [participate in RQS] and sit in a room with your community—you’re building something that is stronger.”
This, he explained, is what makes, and keeps, it radical.
Though getting folks from across the island together to build solidarity may seem like a challenging objective, the plurality in RQS’s programme certainly lends itself to the cause. It’s extensive, to say the least—and its awesomeness includes sexy Fuckjitsu, the annual STALLE queer performance night, surprise film screenings, Queer Divination (Tarot reading for beginners) and smutty storytelling, to name a few highlights.
The week wraps up with their now-notorious Monster Ball—a massive queer dance party with performances, DJs and VJs.
“I know we’re supposed to tell you what’s the ‘best’ thing to do [this week], but we just have so much plurality,” laughs Arseneault. “There’s just nothing like it.”
For the full Radical Queer Semaine schedule, check out radicalqueersemaine.org.
