Montreal’s most famous LGBTQ neighborhood wants to drop ‘gay’ from its name

Take the gay away.

Montreal’s most famous LGBTQ neigbhorhood, known around the world as Le Village Gai (The Gay Village), wants to change its name.

On Wednesday, the association that represents more than 250 businesses located in the traditional queer enclave, wrote on Instagram that from now on, the area wants to be known by a more inclusive — if slightly more generic — name.

“You might be used to calling me The Gay Village,” the post begins. “But in 2021, I would like that to change. Because sexual and gender inclusion and diversity are very important to me.”

So from now on, the LGBTQ neighborhood in Canada’s second-largest city, Quebec, will be simply known as “the Village of Montreal, the largest 2SLGBTQ + village in the WORLD!”

According to the organization, “2S” stands for Two-Spirit, a term used to describe those who embody “characteristics and qualities considered to be both masculine and feminine” in some indigenous communities in North America. An identity that is “not reduced to the question of gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.”

The + sign is used to refer to any other sexual or gender identities that are not represented by the first letters.

The Village of Montreal, which is home to the city’s annual Pride celebration, Fierté Montréal (Montreal’s Pride festival), welcomes more than 1.4 million visitors each year.

By dropping the “gay” from its name, the association wants the area to reflect a more inclusive view of different nuances of sexual orientations and gender identities.

The city’s official tourism website, Tourisme Montréal, still refers to the area as the “gay village.” It describes it as “one of Montreal’s most vibrant, open, and inclusive quarters both day and night.”