Amsterdam Gay Pride Parade Miscommunication

Amsterdam Gay Pride

Amsterdam Gay Pride is a city wide celebration of homosexuality that takes place every year on the first weekend of August. I like to think of it as a celebration of sexuality in all its forms. It’s a time when everyone can come together and celebrate that it’s ok to be different and that love, no matter what form it takes, is still love.

The main event of the celebrations is the Amsterdam Gay Pride Canal Boat Parade. Men and women of all orientations come together to celebrate diversity in sexuality by dancing to the Village People’s greatest hits while trying unsuccessfully to not crash their canal boats into another group dancing to the greatest hit of The Weather Girls (and no, that’s not a euphemism).

Amsterdam Gay Pride Mixed Signals

It’s a great parade to check out even as a straight person. The city’s canals turn into one big party of music, dancing and feather bowers. However, it might send mixed signals if, as a straight person, you check out the gay pride parade while wearing a t-shirt with the words ‘I Like Me’ written upon it in very large letters. As I discovered one year, it’s all about context. On any other day of the year ‘I Like Me’ is a humorous T-shirt worn for simple amusement. However, on the day of the Amsterdam Gay Pride Parade ‘I Like Me’ becomes a T-shirt that unintentionally declares, “I’m here and I’m queer and I’m ok with that because I like me,” to other free and single male celebrators. Especially if you can’t stop dancing to YMCA like I can never seem to stop myself from doing.

So waking up in the morning and deciding to put on such a T-shirt when you know you are going to watch the gay pride parade (as I did) might not be the best informed choice to make even if it is nice to find out that you have options… a lot of options (as I did).

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

14 Responses

  1. Jules says:

    “It’s okay to be gay”…

  2. Invader Stu says:

    I knew someone was going to say that :p

  3. French Bean says:

    Hmmm…I take it that you bumped into the old man again?

    But, yeah, that is indeed an awkward situation! Macho, Macho Man…

  4. Jake says:

    I shouldn’t worry, Stu. “I Like Me” would seem to be a declaration of “No thanks, men OR women, I’m perfectly happy with self-gratification and I’m proud of it!” The crowd was probably made very happy by your honesty.

  5. Invader_Stu says:

    French Bean – I’m surprised I didn’t but he might have been there somewhere.

    Jake – Damn. You’ve worked out the truth behind the t-shirt Jake.

  6. Jill @ Teenage Bride says:

    hahaha that was too funny. Nice choice.

  7. Andrew says:

    I’m missing all the good stuff! Apart from this, there’s also the ‘International Carnivorous Plants Exhibition’ in Leiden’s Hortus Botanicus, which sounds incredible fun.

  8. Invader Stu says:

    Jill – Thanks :)

    Andrew – Oh don’t worry. It gets bigger every year so you’ll have even more to look forward to once you get here.

  9. VallyP says:

    Are there any comments for this year? Or am I the first? How was it this year, Stu? Or is it same old same old?

  10. Windmiltales says:

    Hehe! Fab tshirt! I used to love Gay pride when I lived in Gran Canaria, great atmosphere and such a party :)

  11. Bart says:

    Wisened by this experience, this year Stu decided to wear his pink T-shirt with a picture of an ‘Amsterdammertje’ (Amsterdam bollard)

  12. Wendi says:

    I like you too.

  13. Invader_Stu says:

    VallyP – You are the first. It was really good this year even though no one came on to me.

    Windmiltales – I agree. It’s a great atmosphere.

    Bart – How did you know?

    Wendi – Thank you. I like you too too.

  14. Erich says:

    great post!

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