Pride month: A guide to pride events & LGBTQ+ rights in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is often seen as one of the most progressive countries in the world when it comes to LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) rights. After all, the country was the first in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. It’s not uncommon for expats to move to the Netherlands specifically for this reason. So, here is everything you need to know about LGBTQ+ rights in the Netherlands, from the Equal Treatment Act to Pride Amsterdam!

History of LGBTQ rights in the Netherlands

The Netherlands has not always been an LGBTQ-friendly country. Here is a short history of LGBTQ rights in the Netherlands:

1730 to 1811: Persecution

Hundreds of homosexual people were persecuted between 1730 and 1811, when the Dutch Republic considered sodomy to be a crime. Generally, heterosexual people who engaged in sodomy were not prosecuted under this same legislation.

1811: The Napoleonic Code

In 1811, after the French invaded, the Napoleonic Code was installed. The Code was made to reform French law in line with the Revolution and has influenced the law system of many European countries, including the Netherlands. Because of the Code, all laws against same-sex sexual activity were repealed. When the Dutch gained independence in 1813, they did not reinstate their old sodomy laws.

1911: Article 248bis

However, in 1911, Article 248bis of the Penal Code was introduced. This raised the age of consent for same-sex sexual activity to 21.

1940 to 1945: Paragraph 175

During World War II, after the Netherlands was occupied by the German army in 1940, Paragraph 175 was introduced by the Nazis. This once again meant that same-sex sexual activity was against the law in the Netherlands. After WWII, Paragraph 175 was repealed, and the Netherlands became a place of refuge for many LGBTQ+ people from western countries where homosexuality was still illegal.

1970s: Repeal of Article 248bis

During the mid-20th century, the Netherlands' attitude towards homosexuality began to change. This led to the repeal of Article 248bis in 1971 and, from 1973 onwards, homosexuality was no longer treated as a "mental illness". During this time, the military also lifted its ban on homosexual people enlisting.

1987: Homomonument

The Netherlands had another “first” with the opening of the Homomonument in 1987, the world’s first gay memorial in public space, which commemorates all LGBT victims of persecution. The monument is located on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam and consists of three large, pink triangles made of granite that together form a larger triangle.

1994: Equal Treatment Act 1994 (Algemene wet gelijke behandeling)

In March 1994, the Dutch parliament enacted the Equal Treatment Act 1994. Discrimination had been banned before, but this Act went a step further to ban discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

1998: Recognition of same-sex relationships

It wasn’t until January 1, 1998, that Dutch law granted same-sex couples domestic partnership benefits as an alternative for same-sex marriage. It would take another three years for same-sex marriage to become legal in the Ntetheralnds.

2001: Legalisation of same-sex marriage

On September 12, 2000, a bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriage was passed in the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) by 109 votes to 33. On December 19, 2000, the bill was passed in the Senate (Eerste Kamer) by 49 votes to 26. Only the Christian political parties (CDA, CU and SGP) voted against the bill. The law took effect on April 1, 2001. On that same day, four same-sex couples were married by the Mayor of Amsterdam at the time, Job Cohen.

2001: Joint adoption by same-sex couples

Joint adoption by same-sex couples was legalised alongside same-sex marriage in 2001. This also includes stepchild adoption. 

2014: Changing gender on official documents

In 2014, a law took effect that makes it possible to allow transgender people to legally change their gender on official documents, such as a passport or driving licence, without undergoing sterilisation and sex reassignment surgery.

2021: Blood donation

As of September 1, 2021, monogamous gay and bisexual men are allowed to donate blood without a deferral period. Previously, there was a four-month deferral put in place by the Sanguin blood bank.

Pride month in the Netherlands

Like many other countries around the world, the Netherlands celebrates pride month in June. The LGBTIQ+ community and allies come together throughout the month for events, parades, parties, talks and discussions to celebrate love, inclusion, equality and diversity.

In the Netherlands, however, major pride events aren't just confined to June but spill over into July and August as well. 

Pride events in the Netherlands

The Netherlands hosts various gay pride events during the year. These are the most famous ones:

Roze Zaterdag (Pink Saturday)

Roze Zaterdag is usually celebrated on the last Saturday of June, as it was on this day that the New York Stonewall riots took place in 1969. These riots led to people becoming organised activists fighting for the rights of LGBTQ people, as well as the very first Gay Pride Parade on June 28, 1970.

The first demonstration for the rights of LGBTQ people in the Netherlands was held on January 21 in 1969, when about a hundred young people demonstrated against Article248bis. However, the first Gay Pride Parade was held on June 25, 1977, in Amsterdam. This became an annual event, changing its name to Roze Zaterdag in 1979.

Roze Zaterdag is hosted in a different Dutch city each year. Since 1977, it has only been cancelled once, in 2020, because of the pandemic.

Pride Amsterdam

Pride Amsterdam is perhaps the most well-known pride event in the Netherlands. So, how did Pride Amsterdam come to be?

Short history of Pride Amsterdam

The first edition of Pride Amsterdam was held in 1996, during the first weekend of August. Roze Zaterdag was already being held annually, but some members of the LGBTQ community felt that Amsterdam’s status as trailblazing gay city was slipping a little. So, they came up with a new pride event: Pride Amsterdam.

While Roze Zaterdag started out as a political demonstration for equal rights, Pride Amsterdam’s main focus is to celebrate freedom and diversity in Amsterdam. For about a week every August, parties pop up all across bars and clubs in the city, with streets that are home to a lot of gay bars, such as Reguliersdwarsstraat, Zeedijk and Warmoesstraat, at the centre of it all. The biggest party of all? The Amsterdam Canal Parade!

Amsterdam Canal Parade

Did you know that Amsterdam is the only capital city in the world that features a canal pride parade? The Canal Parade has been part of Amsterdam Pride since its first edition. During the first parade, there were 45 participants and about 20.000 visitors. Nowadays, the event lasts for roughly four hours and draws more than 400.000 visitors annually.

Usually, the parade sets off from the Oosterdok, travelling via the Nieuwe Herengracht, Amstel, Prinsengracht and around to the Westerdok. About 80 boats participate, often featuring onboard DJs and a party crew, representing LGBTQ foundations as well as Dutch political parties and multinational organisations.

Amsterdam Pride Walk

Since 2012, Amsterdam Pride also features the Pride Walk, which is mostly meant to be a demonstration against anti-LGBTQ violence in the Netherlands, as well as abroad. Initially, this parade went from Mercatorplein to the Homomonument. Nowadays, it starts at the Homomonument and ends at Pride Park (Vondelpark).

Rotterdam Pride

Amsterdam is not the only city in the Netherlands that holds an annual Pride event. Since 2014, Rotterdam hosts Rotterdam Pride, which is a continuation of the Keerweer Parade, a street party that has been organised since 2006.

Rotterdam Pride lasts for a little over a week and offers over 100 art, cultural, music, and sports activities. The highlight of it all? The Pride Parade! The Pride Parade is held on a Saturday and starts at the Leuvehaven and continues via the gay bars in the Van Oldenbarneveltstraat to the Schouwburgplein. LGBTQ organisations as well as individual participants can join the parade.

Fun fact: During Rotterdam Pride weekend, the famous Erasmus Bridge is illuminated in rainbow colours.

Utrecht Canal Pride

A popular “newcomer” is the Utrecht Canal Pride, which took place for the first time in 2017. It was an initiative from the owner of gay bar Kalff, Robbert Kalff, after his boat could not participate in the Amsterdam Canal Parade. He decided to organise his own canal parade in Utrecht. 25 boats participated in the very first Utrecht Canal Pride and around 20.000 visitors were there to celebrate the event. The number of participating boats and visitors have grown each year since that first edition.

Alkmaar Pride

Every year in May the historic city centre of Alkmaar turns into a riot of rainbows as Pride week gets underway. As well as a colourful Pride boat parade, Alkmaar Pride stages a full week of events for the LGBTQ+ community, including music, film and exhibitions.

Pride Walk Maastricht

Maastricht also hosts its own Pride celebrations, usually in June. The focus of the day in Maastricht tends to be on protest, with things kicking off with a series of speeches, followed by a march through the city. At the end of the Pride Walk in Maastricht there is a picnic with music and performances.

Other LGBTQ events in the Netherlands

Besides the well-known Pride events, the Netherlands is also home to the following annual LGBTQ events:

Roze Filmdagen

De Roze Filmdagen (Pink Film Days) is an annual, 11-day long film festival that showcases films, shorts, and documentaries with an LGBTQ theme. Organised by Stichting Pink Media, this popular film festival has taken place in Het Ketelhuis at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam since 1996. What can you expect from this festival? Around 125 LGBTQ films from over 40 countries, watched by some 10.000 visitors!

Queer Film Festival Utrecht

Queer Film Festival Utrecht has taken place every year since 2019. For 10 days, you can watch films, shorts, talks, and more from different corners of the queer community. During QFFU, diversity, inclusivity and accessibility are central, and the whole of Utrecht is turned into one big cinema.

Milkshake Festival

Milkshake Festival is a dance festival that takes place at Westergas in Amsterdam each year. It’s a festival where “niets moet, alles mag" (nothing is mandatory, anything is possible): “Life is just a party thanks to the great diversity of skin colours, religions, sexual preferences and gender expressions… Thick, thin, small, large, gay, straight, trans, black or white, people are the salt of the earth, and this is what we celebrate!”. 

LGBTQ organisations in the Netherlands

If you need more information on LGBTQ rights and events in the Netherlands, the following organisations and foundations can help you out:

COC Nederland

Founded in 1946, COC Nederland is the oldest existing LGBTQ organisation in the world. COC originally stood for Cultuur en Ontspanningscentrum (Centre for Culture and Leisure), which was intended to be a cover name, hiding its real purpose.

As of 2000, the COC has 24 local associations, united in the Federatie van Nederlandse Verenigingen tot integratie van Homoseksualiteit COC Nederland (Federation of Dutch Associations for Integration of Homosexuality COC Netherlands), with a combined membership of over 7.000 people.

The local chapters are mostly run by volunteers and offer support groups, information and meetup places and promote LGBTQ interests. The national COC focuses on homosexuality and education, as well as equal treatment on a national level.

IHLIA LGBT Heritage

Formerly known as the International Homo/Lesbian Information Centre and Archive (IHLIA), IHLIA LGBT Heritage is an international archive and documentation centre concerning all things LGBTQ. It features the largest LGBTQ collection in Europe with over 100.000 titles, including books, journals, magazines, films, posters, photographs, and more.

It was founded in 1999 by merging the Lesbian Archives of Amsterdam and Leeuwarden with the Homodok (documentation on homosexuality of the University of Amsterdam).

Expreszo

Expreszo is a bi-monthly magazine made by and for LGBTQ youth in the Netherlands and Flanders. It was founded in 1998 and was funded by COC for a while. Nowadays, they are independent from COC in their writing.

George Mosse Fund

Founded in 2001 at the University of Amsterdam, with a bequest from George Mosse’s inheritance (George Mosse was a professor of History in the US; he also taught as a visiting professor at the University of Amsterdam), the Foundation George Mosse Fund of the University of Amsterdam aims to promote gay and lesbian studies. The foundation is mostly known for its Mosse Lectures and QueerTalk events, organised in collaboration with IHLIA.

Stichting Secret Garden

The Secret Garden Foundation offers social, legal and psychological support to LGBTQ people with an ethnic-cultural background. The foundation aims to represent the interests of LGBTQ asylum seekers who have fled their country because of their orientation. It also offers theme nights, meetings, and debates.

Stichting Pride and Sports

Pride and Sports is the national platform for LGBTQ people in sports. The foundation is committed to making sure that all athletes, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or sex characteristics, can practice sports in a safe environment.

Gay pride flag

No pride event would be complete without it: The rainbow pride flag is used by the LGBTQ+ community as a mark of pride and solidarity. It was designed in 1978 by a group of artists and activists including Gilbert Baker, Lynn Segerblom and James McNamara.

As well as the rainbow pride flag, there are around 20 further flags which represent more specific groups of the LGBTQ+ community, such as the bisexual, transgender and queer people of colour pride flags.

In 2018, American artist and designer Daniel Quasar developed the progress pride flag, a redesign that celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community with additional stripes: light blue, pink and white for non-binary individuals and brown and black ones for marginalised people of colour (POC) communities. The black stripe also represents those living with AIDs and people who have been lost to the disease.

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