MONTREAL - Gay or Straight?
House, trance or electronic?
Australian, French, German or Montrealer?
DJs spinning at the 22nd Black & Blue Festival will move a sea of humanity on dance floors Sunday night in an event where almost everything goes, except drugs and unprotected sex.
About 7,000 people are expected on dance floors in three rooms at the Palais des Congrès.
From 9 p.m. Sunday to 10 a.m. Monday, dancers will show off their moves in an event dedicated to the causes of inclusion, diversity, openness, peace, equality, altruism and love," according to documentation from the Bad Boy Club of Montreal (BBCM).
Profits will be given to organizations that care for people with HIV/AIDS as well as gay and lesbian groups in the Montreal area, which have received $1.8 million from the event since 1991.
A new addition to this year’s mix is a third hall where people can “sit and listen to down-tempo electronic music,” said the BBCM’s Caroline Rousse, who also adds that many tourists are expected to Montreal for the event.
The BBCM also vows to work closely with the Montreal police and security agents and all visitors will be search to keep drugs out. The AIDS Community Care Montreal will distribute condoms and information on HIV and AIDS.
"There will be no sex on site but we’ll still tell visitors, 'don’t forget to protect yourself,'” said Rousse.
“When we started the festival people were dropping like flies all around us. We lost a lot of friends in the 90s,” she said.
“Now 20 years later, we see people, especially young people, who do not protect themselves, even though we now know that about AIDS. Many think it's not big deal and it can be treated. Yet it is very difficult to live with AIDS,” she said.
The BBCM Foundation said that the Black & Blue "is a celebration and recognition of the lifestyle and the unique culture of the gay community." The event is open to all, and organizers estimate that half of the clients are heterosexual.
"Heterosexuals are of course welcome, but they must not be homophobic,” said Rousse, laughing.
