As part of the Pride Canada Montréal 2017 celebrations, Fierté Montréal / Montréal Pride is organizing an international conference on LGBTQ rights in French-speaking communities.

The event, titled Equality & Legality International Conference on Sexual & Gender Diversity in the Francophonie, will take place on August 18, 2017 in Montreal, Canada. All panels and workshops will take place in French.

A wide variety of topics will be addressed during the conference, ranging from justice and human rights to migration and refugees, as well as religions, health, colonialism and North-South relations.

Over 80 countries on all continents identify with the Francophonie. LGBTQ rights vary considerably from one country to another. Even today, at least in one of them, to display a different sexual orientation can be cause for the death penalty. In others, prison sentences and charges of indecency are the norm. This conference will allow delegates to assess the state of rights and the discuss the quest for equality of LGBTQ people in these countries. It also seeks to raise the importance of these issues for the future.

A call for proposals for the international conference has already been launched: Montréal Pride is inviting researchers, academics and activists to come to Montréal in August to share their knowledge, to discuss LGBTQ realities in the Francophonie with their peers, and to lay the groundwork for future collaborations.

Proposals must be submitted no later than April 28, 2017. The process for submitting a proposal can be found online and is open to anyone from the academic and research community who is interested in LGBTQ or human rights issues, and to any person, organisation or institution active in LGBTQ communities and allied networks at the local, national or international level.

The conference’s scientific committee will review the submitted proposals for selection. Authors chosen will be invited to the conference in Montréal to present their papers and share their findings with conference participants.

A bursary program of more than $100,000 to support the attendance of participants from outside Québec coming to the Equality and Legality conference has also been launched. Individuals who register for the conference will be able to apply online for a bursary starting April 1, 2017 by filling the application on the conference’s website. By meeting some basic criteria, up to 100 % of travel costs, accommodation, meals and registration will qualify for the bursary award. Each application will be assessed individually, according to the applicant’s financial means.

The Equality and Legality conference is made possible thanks to the financial support of its presenting sponsor, the Government of Québec. The Francophonie Conference will be preceded by a three-day Canadian conference, titled LGBTTIQA2S Lives: Our Struggles, Our Victories, Our Challenges.