Whilst Pride events in the rest of the Netherlands attract tens of thousands, the city of Groningen has mystifyingly never had its own LGBTQI+ celebration. GroenLinks would like to change that.
Translation by Thomas Ansell
GroenLinks provincial council candidate Musetta Blaauw has made “Grunneger Pride” part of her platform, stating that such an event would serve as “a symbol for the rainbow province that Groningen is.” In December, Groningen was praised by the Australian publication Gay Star News as a hidden gem in The Netherlands.
“We are an open and tolerant province, where everyone has the freedom to be yourself without fear”, says Blaauw. “Festivals and events in Groningen are getting bigger, but an event, but an event is only really inclusive and tolerant if diversity is celebrated first.”
The Groninger Internet Courant reports that GroenLinks would like to provide a subsidy for the organisation that comes up with the best plan for Grunneger Pride 2020. A prerequisite is that the event will have to be managed and run as professionally as other large scale events organised in Groningen, such as Swingin’ Groningen, Eurosonic/Noorderslag, and Groningens Ontzet (to celebrate Bommen Berend).
The Groningen council leader for GroenLinks, Jeffry van Hoorn, is also pro-Grunneger Pride. “I know better than anyone how great it is to be present at a Pride event, but for many young people in the northern Netherlands, heading to Amsterdam for Pride is quite a big undertaking. A Groninger variant gives these young people a great chance to feel what it is like when you are accepted for who you are.”
Pride Amsterdam is one of the largest events in the city’s calendar, attracting over 680,000 people for its 2017 edition. It was first organised in 1996, and the centrepiece is the canal parade, which is bookended by a week of LGBTQI+ focussed activities and presentations.
| Queer Pride Groningen
On 1 June of 2019, Groningen will host the first Queer Pride Groningen. Emi Howard is one of the organisers of QPG and is part of a team of nine Dutch and international people in the city, many of whom work or study at the RUG. “The plan up to now is to facilitate a Pride Week during the last week in May, whereby venues and organizations in the city will organize Pride-themed events such as film screenings”, Howard says. “Queer Pride Groningen will happen on 1 June. It will start with speakers and performers, followed by a march through the city centre and a party in the evening. No further concrete plans have been worked out yet.” This section was added as an update to the original text at 2:23 p.m. on Monday, 4 March. |
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