John Banks, pioneer for LGBTQ2 rights in Canada, dies at age 80

A pioneer of LGBTQ2 rights in Quebec has died.

John Banks died at 80 years old.

Against all odds, and in a climate of open hostility, Banks was a trailblazer, leading the first gay pride parade in Montreal back in 1979, which was one of the first in the country.

“The mayor at the time was Jean Drapeau and he wanted to clean the city, so he didn’t want anymore gay bars,” said Jean Pilotte, the coordinator and Quebec’s Gay Archives and a personal friend of Pilotte.

Under the Drapeau administration, police raids at the city’s gay bars were common and so was violence against the community.

But Pilotte says Banks was “absolutely determined” to live out in the open and to stand up to discrimination against gay people.

So in 1979, he started what’s now known as Montreal’s first gay parade.

A group of about 50 friends banks called the pink brigade met in Montreal’s Saint-Louis Square.

They walked about one kilometre towards Laf Fontaine Park and simply celebrated who they were.

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Pilotte says back then, it took a lot of courage and guts and Banks certainly had both.

“Look at the way he’s dressed,” Pilotte said, pointing at a picture of the gathering. “He was defying everything.”

Montreal’s first gay parade in 1979, organized by John Banks (far left, in white). Photo provided by the Archives Gaies du Quebec. Archives Gaies du Quebec

Nearly 45 years later that small gathering has become the largest Pride parade in the Francophone world and Montreal, many say, is a better place for it.

“John was a visionary,” says Simon Gamache, the head of Montreal Pride. “What has evolved is (that) of course you have the LGBTQ people marching or also along the streets, but you have allies also.”

Gamache says that during this years’ parade, there will be a special moment to honour Banks’ life.

Montreal mayor Valérie Plante also lauded Banks’ contributions to the gay community in the city.

“He was a pioneer,” Plante said.

A pioneer and a fan of culture.

Banks’ determination also led him to another improbable job.

While Hollywood actress Marlene Dietrich was on tour in Montreal, he wanted her to sign his records.

But when she refused to sign one of them, he challenged her.

“Well, Mme. Dietrich, you did it, so sign it,” Pilotte said Banks told Dietrich. “And she said, ‘You come in my lodge, I wanna talk to you’, and it started like that.”

Like that, he became Dietrich’s personal assistant.

Banks, Pilotte says, was larger than life.

“We’re going to miss him that’s for sure. He was a great man,” Pilotte said.

Despite the sadness, he would want those mourning his loss to do one thing.

“Keep the queer parades going,” Banks said while being interviewed for a documentary by Quebec’s Gay Archives.