It was announced last night that Queer Amsterdam will be co-organizing Queer & Pride 2023 with other groups. It was announced in December that Pride Amsterdam would be extended by a week. The first step toward a global strategy for this has been completed. Last night, about 130 people met at Pakhuis De Zwijger to learn more about Queer Amsterdam’s future plans (QA). Eleven LGBTQ+ groups have united under that banner.
Timetable
At the close of 2018, it was declared that next summer’s Pride celebrations would extend for an additional week. Since the city of Amsterdam requires written proof of initial planning by January 25 (in part due to the myriad of permits and safety measures), QA has developed a comprehensive strategy. In order to make room for initiatives from the LGBTQ community, especially those led by marginalized groups, QA has left large swaths of the program unfilled.
The Event
There will be a larger celebration at the Pride Walk’s traditional endpoint, Queer Park, on Saturday, July 22. This was announced yesterday. There will be time for sports and movies until Friday, July 28. Several landmarks—including the Meervaart in Nieuw-West, the Podium Mozaek in West, and the Bijlmer Theater in Zuidoost—will serve as focal points.
It is planned that on July 23 routes to various locations, such as Roze Kwaku, will be established between these nodes. Street parties can also be found at De Trut, Pamela, Bar Bario, and Pon Di Pride. Club Church and we are still in the midst of negotiations. The city government has given QA 300,000. This sum is set aside for programming and will primarily support grass-roots efforts that promote social justice, anti-discrimination, and solidarity with the most vulnerable members of society.
On February 10th, forms will be made available on the QA website for anyone to use in order to submit their own ideas. Later this year, we will announce the finalized schedule.
