Amsterdam Canal Parade 2007

As promised, here’s my impressions of the 12th annual Canal Parade, held last Saturday in Amsterdam. For the first time I can recall, the weather was perfect. Most years that I’ve been present, we’ve had occasional showers, but this year there was not a cloud in the sky. That may have helped with the record-breaking turnout as well, there were 400,000 spectators lining the canals, according to police estimates. And there were 70 boats in the parade, the highest number ever.

A number of the boats had a serious message. There appears to be an increasing number of anti-gay incidents occurring in Amsterdam and the rest of the Netherlands. Last weekend, for example, a 34-year old Irishman had his jaw and nose broken, an American gay couple were sprayed with pepper-spray or teargas and then beaten, and another couple were spat upon by a pair on motor scooters. So the unofficial motto of the Canal Parade could be said to be that emblazoned on the side of the Mr. B boat: "So you’re intolerant? – Piss off!!"

The figurehead of the boat also rather impressively underscored the message:

The rise in anti-gay violence was the theme of the Trut dance club boat, which was decorated with newspaper reports on the rise:

Then there was the "Pink Police" boat, with its motto: "to serve and protect Gay Amsterdam":

There was even a Hetero Boat, entered in the Parade to show solidarity, with the motto: "Samen anders, samen één" (different together, one together):

There were a couple of notable firsts in this year’s Parade. There was "Danny’s Boat" – a boat of LGBT children and their parents. This was the initiative of 14-year old Danny Hoekzema. When he first mooted the idea, the Mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, rejected it, expressing doubts about involving "that vulnerable group" in the procession. He later relented, and gave his permission. In the event, you have to wonder what all the fuss was about. It was great to see the boat:

The other first was a boat sponsored by the care organisation Cordaan. It carried gay people who happened to also be mentally handicapped:

As I wrote last week, Shell didn’t have a boat in the parade this year, but there were a number of other multinationals represented, among them TNT, ING Bank and the ABN-AMRO bank:

This guy in the centre of the ING picture was giving it all that he had. Clearly a thwarted thespian who seized the chance to belt out a song and dance routine: