An “XXXL-pride”, promises Pride Amsterdam director Lucien Spee de Castillo Ruiz in four years. The pride week then lasts sixteen days, there is a pride village on the Museumplein and the annual ‘pride walk’ becomes a ‘pride march’ with a hundred thousand people. Not to mention the multi-day people’s conference. “We’re not going to do that in some back room.”
In 2026 it will be a quarter of a century since the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Pride Amsterdam wanted to bring WorldPride to the capital for that occasion, and this Friday became known that it succeeded. In Guadalajara, Mexico, international pride organizations decided that Amsterdam should not host the worldwide LGBTI+ event.
Pride director Spee de Castillo Ruiz is looking forward to it, he says, but he is mainly concerned with the years between now and the summer of 2026. “The Netherlands has subsided: we are no longer the example for LGBTI rights.” He wants to use WorldPride to catch up in that area. “All eyes will soon be on us. If we are still in place 13 of the Rainbow index [een Europese ranglijst van lhbti-rechten, red.] standing, we cut a mud figure.”
Activism
An activist pride, then. In recent years there has been criticism of the Amsterdam edition, which according to some has become too commercial and excludes groups. The Canal Parade, the boat parade, was accused of ‘pinkwashing’ in which companies only pretend to support the LGBTI community in order to polish their image.
“People have blinders on,” Spee de Castillo Ruiz says. “Our pride once started as a party and gradually became more and more activist. But people mainly continue to see the boat parade. We have it because we want to continue to celebrate what we have achieved, and it is the cash cow – we need it to pay for the rest.”
Competition
Although Pride Amsterdam has won WorldPride, it is not yet certain that the foundation may actually organize the event. The municipality of Amsterdam will reissue the permit for the event, and the Pride Foundation will compete with a group of organizations that advocate, among other things, a more diverse Pride.
“We are not working on that,” responds Spee de Castillo Ruiz. “The chance that we will not get the permit is so small. And even if that other person gets the permit, they will need us again for the implementation.”
The director mentions a loose Amsterdam pride followed by the Worldpride as a last resort, but according to him it doesn’t have to get that far. “I rather see a solution in new cooperation between the two parties. The municipality wants us to merge our two applications into one application, and we are currently working hard on that.”
Read also For some, the Canal Parade is now too much party and too little protest
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