page_title: Michael Hendricks and René Leboeuf
hierarchical_section_title: Michael Hendricks and René Leboeuf
caption_attribution_description: English: Michael Hendricks (right) and René Leboeuf, photo showing both their faces. Taken at their wedding (the first same-sex marriage in Quebec), 1 April 2004. Photo by Montrealais.
context_page_description: Michael Hendricks and René Leboeuf are Canadian gay rights advocates. At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 90s, the couple helped lead ACT-UP activists in a fight with the City of Montreal to create a permanent memorial to Quebecers who died of AIDS. After several years trying to stop the grassroots efforts to create the memorial, city officials abandoned their fight in September 1994 and the 'Parc de l'Espoir' was built in the heart of Montreal's gay village.
  The couple is also known for their advocacy of marriage equality in Canada and became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in Quebec.
  In October 2019, at the age of 80, Hendricks found himself at the centre of a new battle with the City of Montreal for the Parc de l'Espoir. Without consulting the gay community or HIV/AIDS service organizations, the city's Ville-Marie borough sent a Notice to Residents announcing it had developed plans to demolish the AIDS memorial and rebuild it with an entirely new design.
context_section_description: Michael Hendricks and René Leboeuf are Canadian gay rights advocates. At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 90s, the couple helped lead ACT-UP activists in a fight with the City of Montreal to create a permanent memorial to Quebecers who died of AIDS. After several years trying to stop the grassroots efforts to create the memorial, city officials abandoned their fight in September 1994 and the 'Parc de l'Espoir' was built in the heart of Montreal's gay village. 
  The couple is also known for their advocacy of marriage equality in Canada and became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in Quebec. 
  In October 2019, at the age of 80, Hendricks found himself at the centre of a new battle with the City of Montreal for the Parc de l'Espoir. Without consulting the gay community or HIV/AIDS service organizations, the city's Ville-Marie borough sent a Notice to Residents announcing it had developed plans to demolish the AIDS memorial and rebuild it with an entirely new design. Hendricks and Leboeuf mobilized the community to attend the borough's Dec. 4 public meeting where officials were told repeatedly that they did not have their approval to make any changes to Parc de l'Espoir. Fearing a scathing editorial in the Montreal Gazette, the borough dropped their plans and went back to the drawing board.
caption: Michael Hendricks (right) and René Leboeuf at their 2004 wedding
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