- Title: NETHERLANDS: Gay parade hit Amsterdam's canals on Saturday
- Date: 8th August 2010
- Summary: HANS BRUGGEMAN (83), FORMER MEMBER OF DUTCH PARLIAMENT AND A DECLARED GAY, WATCHING THROUGH THE WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (English), HANS BRUGGEMAN (83), FORMER DUTCH MP AND DECLARED GAY, SAYING: "I am not going on the Canal Parade with little clothes or nearly naked, for 83 I have it and I could show it, but I am dammed to do it because then they are standing at the side and (
- Embargoed: 23rd August 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Netherlands
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,People
- Reuters ID: LVABUMZ847I0579RNBXKJYDYOEUH
- Story Text: Amsterdam did its best to reassert its status as Europe's gay capital on Saturday (August 7) with a canal parade that nearly doubled the city's population despite of rain.
The city of 750,000 people welcomed an estimated 500,000 revelers for the event, which featured around 80 boats sailing around the city's Prinsengracht canal.
Yet signs of an unhappy undercurrent in the gay community in the Netherlands are becoming sharper.
The local edition of Time Out magazine led its most recent issue with an article questioning whether Amsterdam had become an unsafe place for gays to live. Late last month, members of parliament asked for an inquiry into reports gay immigrants had been told to conceal their sexuality for the benefit of Muslim classmates in government-sponsored integration courses.
The party atmopshere may appear universal to outsiders, but there are still people, even in the gay community, who are not fans of Amsterdam's flamboyant celebration.
"We are making ourselves a parody of being homosexual," Hans Bruggeman, 83, a former member of the Dutch parliament, told Reuters Television on the eve of the parade. "The gay movement asks everybody to accept it and to applaud to homosexuality. I don't want to urge people with the other background to be enthusiastic to accept it."
Bruggeman, clad in a short-sleeve shirt and braces / suspenders, had particular disdain for the scantily clad tenor of the parade.
"I am not going on the Canal Parade with little clothes or nearly naked, for 83 I have it and I could show it, but I am dammed to do it because then they are standing at the side and (claps with hands) - we are making ourselves a parody of being homosexual," he said.
The parade is held annually in the Dutch capital. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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