Criticism of LGBT people on Canal Parade | Inland

This is apparent from the annual survey by EenVandaag among thousands of LGBT people. Although almost three quarters (73 percent) of them are still convinced of the importance of Pride events in the Netherlands, a significant part (57 percent) strongly criticize the Canal Parade as it is now being held.

No identification with people on the boats

Furthermore, some of the LGBT people who are in favor of adaptation cannot identify with the people on the boats. They say the Parade is too naked, too extreme, too sex-oriented and only fuels prejudice: “At times it is a Parade of extremes and debauchery, which is atypical for me and my friends. I’m not like that and I don’t want people in my everyday life to think I’m like that,” one person wrote.

Others call the boat parade ‘monkey watching’ and find the relatively large number of straight people at the Canal Parade a tricky point: “Of the 600,000 people who come to watch, it is 450,000 straight people who marvel at all the extravagance.” 39 percent of LGBT people believe that the Parade should only be accessible to LGBT people. Nevertheless, the majority (54 percent) believe that everyone should be welcome, according to EenVandaag.

Many LGBT people have great difficulty with the growing number of companies that want to visibly commit themselves to the Parade. Respondents call it ‘rainbow capitalism’, ‘pinkwashing’ or ‘commercial carnival’. Some respondents also call the parade ‘too Amsterdam’, for example, the party would not increase acceptance outside the Randstad.

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