by MATTHEW HAYS

Gay business leaders and Divers/Cité organizers found themselves at severe odds last week, as the city's gay pride organization took several businesses to court over their use of the word "Pride."

On Wednesday, July 30, just prior to the Divers/Cité weekend, Divers/Cité had their lawyer, Noël Saint-Pierre, send three letters to the clubs Unity 2 and Parking and the non-profit gay party organization Bad Boy Club Montreal (BBCM). Though reluctant to go on the record, sources at the three said they were furious and said that the legal action could have shut their parties down. At the eleventh hour, however, lawyers for both sides managed to come to an agreement, one that included posting signs outside each of their venues, announcing clearly that their events had absolutely nothing to do with Montreal's gay pride organization, Divers/Cité.

The legal squabble comes after years of charges and countercharges between Village business owners and Divers/Cité. Divers/Cité organizers argue they simply do not receive enough donations from Village bar and club owners, who see substantive profit increases during the Pride week. Village entrepreneurs claim Divers/Cité is too demanding and controlling. Among the complaints is the fact that the main Divers/Cité events were moved out of the Village several years ago, effectively dampening the street-party atmosphere and taking customers away from the adjacent businesses. Divers/Cité has explained, quite validly, that the sites had to be moved for security reasons.

The spat grew more public last month, when Parking proprietor Gregg Thibault told the local gay press that "I'd just shut Divers/Cité down altogether. They're all just frustrated."

Divers/Cité organizers declined to comment for this article, but their lawyer, Saint-Pierre, points out that Unity 2 and Parking created several advertisements for their parties that clearly made them look like official Divers/Cité events. "If you're coming from out of town, they look like associated parties," he says. "And they're not. Divers/Cité is a non-profit organization that gets very little funding. The merchants in the Village are making a killing. It's well known that their sales go up by 50 to 100 per cent over this weekend."

People have long complained that Pride events everywhere have become too commercial, and indeed, this bitter infighting would be the end result, now that tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars are at stake.

Saint-Pierre concedes that no one should really own the concept of Pride itself - a bit like owning the trademark for Christmas. "But we do need some sort of community structure in order for it to take place," he says. Montreal is not alone in its infighting; urban Pride organizers from across North America are often near bankruptcy and complain of a lack of support from businesses that benefit from Pride festivities. Toronto's Pride committee took action and has legally trademarked the word "Pride," effectively owning its use in Canada.

As for Montreal, Saint-Pierre and sources at the BBCM both agree on something: in order to mend these rifts by next year, mediation is almost certainly going to be needed. "Divers/Cité wants to be respected," says Saint-Pierre. "There's no reason why things can't be worked out."