It’s an LGBT year in Montreal this 2016

Montreal in Canada is turning into the place to visit this year with a full queer-positive exhilarating cultural calendar, ranging from world-premiere opera productions to side-splitting drag shows.

Here are five reasons why you should pencil in a fun-filled visit to Canada this 2016.

More choices in LGBT Montreal

Les feluettes – Extraits musicaux / Musical excerpts
If you prefer some culture, L’Opéra de Montréal will be presenting the world-premiere of the opera adaptation of legendary gay Québec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard’s internationally-acclaimed 1987 play Les Feluettes.

The opera– about a gay love triangle involving a Catholic bishop– is scheduled on May 21 to 28 at the Salle Wilfred-Pelletier at Place des Arts.

Drag Races de Mado à Montréal / Mado’s Drag Races in Montréal
Now, if you want something a little more exciting, there’s Montréal drag legend Mado Lamotte’s 16th annual Drag Race this summer: an over-the-top two-hour outdoor live show that predates RuPaul’s Drag Race at the Montreal Fringe Festival.

Running from June 9 to 19, this Drag Race will have professional Montréal drag queens team up with their amateur counterparts in Parc des Amériques.

More parties in LGBT Montreal

Fierté Montréal Pride 2015 promo
Now, if you want to party hard, there’s the Fierté Montréal Pride’s annual LGBT Pride celebrations set to run from August 8 to 14. This will have a series of indoor and outdoor parties and concerts, as well as Fierté Montréal’s annual LGBT Community Day, Dyke March, and Pride parade.

On the other hand, Montréal’s Pervers/Cité festival– which dubs itself the “underside of Pride”– will run at the same time as Fierté Montréal. This is a radical queer summer happening with activities that will “reanimate the radical underpinnings to the Pride movement.”

Black & Blue 2014: Aftermovie
Not enough? There’s also Montréal’s famed Black & Blue gay circuit party, which has become the single most successful all-night dance party on the planet.

This festival has generated over $300 million in local economic spin-offs, donated $1.2 million cash to various AIDS and LGBT organizations, plus an additional $800,000 in free tickets and services to help LGBT community groups.

Other notable Montreal events

We’ve mentioned five events above, but there are also others like the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Image+Nation’s 29th annual LGBT film festival, and many other activities and events of interest to LGBT travelers.

There are also live drag shows most nights of the week in nightclubs like Cabaret Mado and Bar Le Cocktail in the Gay Village.

So if you want to enjoy some legendary joie-de-vivre and queer-positive embrace, see why Montreal is now considered one of the top LGBT choice destinations in the world.