L’Astérisk project (space and activities by the Coalition) funding was cut July 2025. We had our last Refresh activity, with the remaining funds allocated to activities, January 29th 2026.

Unlike for our other projects, l’Astérisk does not have a dedicated grant. We are relying on donations until we are able to secure long-term funding.

It is very difficult for us to find funding that would qualify for the administrative expenses of our space.

Together, we are a a safe(r), non-commercial and bilingual space in the Village of Montreal, created in 2014 for LGBTQ+ youth. We offer numerous free services (gender-affirming gear, clothing exchange, library, collective kitchen, active listening, resources, etc.) with the Roommate organizations (Jeunesse Lambda, AlterHéros, Juritrans, Maison Lambda, Rainbow Spice Collective and La Mandragore).

Every year, thousands of young people find their place thanks to our premises and our support. The survival and accessibility of this space is very important for the well-being of the Roommates and the Coalition’s youth, staff and volunteers.

1. 29,288$ raised, thanks to you, as of January 31 2026, including direct donations. This has helped us cover our basic expenses from July to September 2025. ✅

2. 80,000$ is our urgent boost goal to reach in order to cover our basic expenses from October 2025 to March 2026. ⚠️ Help us share ! See how to support above or in details on our website. 

3. 108,000$ is our goal by June 2026 in order to cover all basic expenses. 

4. We paused our bigger goal: 198,000$ total in order to bring back our full activities.

• Follow: @_lasterisk

• Share our fundraiser. You can share our video promo or, your personal testimony.

  • Tag: @_lasterisk

  • Include: our QR code (featured on the left side of this page)

• Share and participate in our fundrasing events:

  • Tickets to our Fundraiser Show, Wednesday February 4th 2026, 6 pm at P'tite Ours: Featuring Black artists, including some of our staff and board!

  • Tickets to our raffle prize ending Thursday, February 5th, 2026, noon - Featuring products by our community partners like Origami Customs, Banana Prosthetics, l’Euguélione and Wax Maya!

• If you would like to distribute or put up our flyers, you can download and print the flyer yourself (see PDF file linked on the left side of this page) OR sign-up to become a volunteer and pick-up copies in the space.

• See the next section on how to pay-forward gender gear!

No matter the amount of time taken to share, the size of the donation, all these actions support a safe(r) space and community services by and for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth in and around the Montreal Gay Village. They also help the Coalition, a network composed of 2SLGBTQIA+ youth groups across the province of Quebec. 

The Coalition has dwindling gender gear inventory until we are able to replenish our budget part of our final fundraising goal to bring back our full activities.

These are important items (menstrual underwear in a variety of sizes and styles, chest binders, tucking underwear, trans tape + removal oil and swim wear in more gender expansive styles) can be expensive to try-out, especially if it is a barrier to accessing employment safe from discrimination and comfortably. 

In order to give more immediate access to this resource with less delay from our fundraiser, you can send a gift card of at least 50$ minimum to cover 1 item for 1 person to our e-mail: donation@coalitionjeunesse.org from one of the companies listed below. We will distribute it via our waitlist. 

Local companies: 

• https://origamicustoms.com/

• https://bananaprosthetics.com/

Canadian companies: 

• https://periodaisle.com/

• https://knix.ca/

• https://urbasics.ca/

USA company:

• https://tomboyx.com/

• 100% of responses to our gender gear service survey expressed having benefited from access to free gender gear items (menstrual underwears in variety of sizes and styles, chest binders, tucking underwear, trans tape + removal oil and swim wear in more gender expansive styles) 

• The booking for our Refresh Days is always sold out in a matter of hours. This is an important activity where we offer free haircuts, hairstyles, manicures and tattoos by community practitioners within a social space with snacks and resources. 

• Massage Day is one of our most popular and community-focused events, the people hired love this event and look forward to it every year, Studio 414 loves hosting it, and the participants enjoy it immensely as well. People enjoy this event because they not only get a massage from a practitioner who is a member of their community, but also because they can discuss important topics with other queer people and spend a day where they can forget about the current climate surrounding the 2slgbtqia community.

• We have been able to offer a variety of workshops by a diversity of artists and community partners ranging from: 

  • Photoshoots for youth to get headshots for their personal and professional portfolio 

  • Art practices like pottery, jewelry making, book binding, etc. including cultural practices shared by artists from those origins

  • Meditative and physical activities that focuses on taking care of our bodies 

  • Film screenings by our communities 

L’Astérisk activities aim to offer a space of resourcing, fun, social connection, peer education and self-exploration that open a welcoming door for youth to join the Coalition’s mission for advocacy and community networking. Feedback within the youth space and activities nourish our community-led strategy.

Our current fundraiser goal of 108,000$ only covers our basic expenses (space, amenities, coordination with the Roomates). We paused our bigger goal: 198,000$ total necessary in order to bring back our full activites. Help us share and boost our objectives to get us closer to being able to offer the activities our participants love and miss!

If you have other questions or suggestions, contact: donation@coalitionjeunesse.org

Fundraising initiatives are more than welcomed! You own a business and would like to reverse a percentage of your sales ? You have a strong community and would like to organize an event ? You have a wide platform and would like to share our fundraiser?

If you would like to offer other support to the campaign, contact us at the donation e-mail or reach out to offer your skills as a volunteer.