Walking with Pride in Amsterdam

The canals of Amsterdam are unusually quiet this summer. Most years, they are filled for one whole day with colourful Pride boats, with people singing, dancing, flirting, protesting and partying in front of spectators either side of the water. Each year, a total of 80 boats take part, organised by a variety of LGBTQ+ groups and organisations. In 2019, the Dutch military even had their own Pride boat – as did bisexuals, the police, some Moroccans and Iranians, elderly people, lesbians, Netflix employees and drag queens. The Pride Parade has been a staple of Amsterdam’s summer since 1996, and each year it draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city.

But in 2020, all of this feels like a distant dream.

“When Covid-19 came along, I thought: everything happens for a reason” says queer activist and educator Döne Fil, who organised the first ever Pride boat for the Netherlands’ Turkish community. “This crisis offers up a mirror to the privileged position we are in. Pride to me is about fighting for the disadvantaged. I don’t celebrate it as an over-the-top party anymore. Pride is necessary for those who cannot be present.”

Luckily, all is not lost. From 25 July to 2 August, Amsterdam is hosting an alternative Pride programme. One of the initiatives is the Find All Flags tour, which guides people around the city’s many Pride flags as well as places that are important to the LGBTQ+ community. It begins with a giant rainbow flag at the Westerkerk church, and features many other flags also. There’s the interesex flag which is yellow with a purple circle, there’s a black, brown and white flag with a bear claw imprint, representing the “bear” community of bulky, hairy men. There’s a lesbian flag with red, orange, white, pink and purple stripes. And the black, grey, white and purple asexual flag. It’s basically a walking tour through the acronym LGBTQIA+ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and the + stands for all genders, sexes and sexualities which aren’t captured in these letters].

I asked Döne (who identifies as queer, feminist and Muslim), Dirk Metzlar-Rudolph (who is part of the gay, leather and “bear” scenes) and BeyonG Veldkamp (“I don’t fit in any one label”) to walk the Find All Flags tour with me. They belong to different parts of the LGBTQ+ community, but have all been to many Prides. 

“Coming out as trans was much easier than coming out as gay” says BeyonG, when we sit down for a drink at the Queenshead, the ninth stop on the tour. A row of Ken-like dolls in different outfits are stalled behind the window of the bar, but unlike Barbie's boyfriend, these dolls are all very visibly anatomically correct. At each flag on the tour, participants can scan a QR code to see a video of a member of the community explaining its significance. When we scan the QR code underneath the bar’s bear flag, “Mr. Bear Europe 2017”, Henk Heijenga, donning two bear ears, tells about the acceptance he found among the “bear” community.

BeyonG was born in Suriname in South America, which gained independence from the Netherlands in 1975. “Suriname’s macho culture means it’s easier in to be accepted as someone who was born in the ‘wrong’ body than to be accepted as a homosexual,” she comments. “I have my culture, my family and my religion, but when I came out as trans in 2013, I decided that I would always put myself first. I always say: Be You, One Love.”

Dirk  lives by a similar motto. Originally from the Dutch countryside, he moved to Amsterdam – where he felt he could be himself – eight years ago. He is wearing blue and black leather pants, bracelets and a black leather vest which he shields from the Amsterdam rain with a rainbow umbrella. “I put pictures of myself and my husband in leather on social media, and my sister and her husband asked me to take them off, as they would shock my mother,” he tells me. “But this is my life! We weren’t in touch for a while after that.”

His husband Stephan – the current Mr Leather Netherlands – also makes an appearance on the tour. Outside the leather club “The Eagle”, a blue, black and white flag with a red heart, symbolising the leather and fetish community, hangs proudly. We scan our QR code, and in the accompanying video Stephan explains how the leather flag makes him feel accepted and welcome.  

The flags along the route show just how diverse the LGBTQ+ community is, but it’s easy to imagine that outsiders could get lost in all the terminology, labels and identities. Even within the community itself, mistakes are sometimes made. “I sometimes have difficulty using the right pronouns,” says Dirk.  “I accidentally called a trans woman I know ‘he’, and I saw her turn pale”.  

One of the flags along the tour sparks a debate within our group. The new Pride Flag, shown on a building next to the Sint Jansbrug bridge in the Red Light district is a variation of the original rainbow flag, but with an additional white, pink, light blue, brown and black triangle. This is meant to symbolise inclusion and progress for those in the community who face even larger struggles:  those living with HIV, transgender people and LGBTQ+ people of colour. 

“That’s not my flag” says Dirk. “My flag is the rainbow flag, and it took us years of struggle to show the outside world what it means. It’s a powerful symbol – and in Russia you get arrested for showing it! “ “It isn’t your flag, it’s our flag” reacts BeyonG. And Döne adds: “The extra colours give support and visibility that we need. I needed it”.