Amsterdam’s Pride celebrations

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 Today Amsterdam’s Pride celebrations need an overhaul to make the event less commercial and more focused on emancipation and protest, according to a new report. Almost everyone interviewed for the report says change is needed, but ideas about what should be done differently vary widely, according to advice bureau Flowz, which carried out the research.

 A large proportion, but not a majority, think the boat parade on the last Saturday of the event should be scrapped because it no longer contributes to the emancipation of LGBTQ community, the researchers said. Others say more should be done to combat ‘pink washing’ company related promotion using LGBTQ friendly images when companies themselves are not doing enough to promote LGBTQ rights. 

In addition, there are concerns in some quarters that the presence of so many people from outside the community and the high consumption of alcohol ‘creates places in the city which are not safe for the LGBTQ community,’ the report’s authors say. Dissent However, not everyone is in favour of a complete overhaul of the event, which takes place at the end of July and early August every year