French gays and lesbians find haven in Quebec

"I told my partner, ‘I’m never going back to France,’" says Alice Chretien, who is eagerly awaiting the birth of her daughter Loann, who was conceived with donor sperm from a gay friend.

"I came to Quebec to discover Montreal. I met my partner here. Then I discovered how easy it is to live here, the day to day, as a lesbian couple, even to have children," she says.

After three and a half years in Canada’s majority French-speaking province, the cafeteria manager says she still feels attached to France and visits every year, but cannot imagine returning on a more permanent basis.

She and other French gays and lesbians describe their home country as less tolerant, pointing to the fierce backlash and demonstrations by hundreds of thousands against a proposal to legalize gay marriage and adoption.

The French parliament is set to vote on the legislation on January 29.

"In any official situation (in France), my partner would not be recognized as the mother of our daughter," Chretien says.

"Here our daughter has my partner’s last name, we decided. But on her French passport she would have to be Loann Chretien with a note explaining that she commonly goes by Loann Tremblay.

"We’re waiting for the laws in France to change before we request papers for her," she said.

Quebec emerged as a haven for French gays and lesbians when gay marriage was legalized here nearly a decade ago, and adoption by same-sex couples has become widely accepted.

"There’s been a huge wave of immigration by French homosexuals in the past three or four years," says Mona Greenbaum, director of the Montreal-based Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Family Coalition.

"It’s been to start families but also Quebec’s lure as a mystical place, its vast open spaces and the dire economic situation in France," she said.

There are no statistics, but the presence of many French expatriates in local groups such as the Quebec gay and lesbian chamber of commerce suggests a large number now call the Canadian province home.

The last census in 2011 showed 64,575 gay and lesbian couples in Canada, nearly double from 2001. Among these, 21,015 were married, while the rest were in common-law relationships.

For French migrants, marriage to a Canadian allows them to permanently extend their stay in the country.
Laurent Gloaguen, a Frenchman in his forties with a broad, bearded smile, met a Quebecer online in 1997. He says he crossed the Atlantic "for the love of a man and not of country."

His partner Yves had come to France to be with him, but was never able to obtain a work permit.

"I was in a stable relationship, but I couldn’t live it in France, even if I wasn’t confronted by anti-gay attitudes. Here, a country that owes me nothing has welcomed me with open arms," Gloaguen says.

"That’s what convinced me. Quebec has allowed me to live my life how I want."

Laurent and Yves were married in 2006 at Montreal’s town hall.

A judge in white frills presided over the 10-minute ceremony, which included a taped love song belted out by Quebec singer Clemence Desrochers: "This summer I’ll grow a garden, if you want to stay with me, a few more months."

Since then, the couple have bought a house and Gloaguen has started a small business producing vintage photographs.

Michel Viatteau / AFP / Expatica