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The COC saw gay people as normal beings, and so didn’t see the need for demonstrations. There were gay rights demonstrations in 19 in the Netherlands, but at the time, the Dutch gay rights organisation COC didn’t want to organise an official Gay Pride like may cities in the US had. Here, the Stonewall riots are commemorated by what is known as Pink Saturday. However, in the Netherlands, it is a little different. These marches paved the way for parades fighting for gay liberation and freedom across the US, and the rest of the world. On the one year anniversary in 1970, and every year since then, the Stonewall riots have been commemorated in New York and several other cities with Pride marches.
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On June 28, 1969, members of the LGBTQ+ community rioted in response to a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York. Pride parades in most cities are used to mark the Stonewall riots of the 1960s. Pride Amsterdam is one of the highlights of the yearly event calendar, but where did it all begin? As the event is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2021, let’s take a walk through history, and see how the pride celebrations we know and love today started.
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Normally marked by a week’s worth of music, dancing, talks, and (of course) the remarkable canal parade, Pride paints Amsterdam rainbow, with everyone going out to celebrate the power of love, and work to make the changes that still need to happen here in the Netherlands and internationally. While Amsterdam Pride might look and feel a little different this year, the implications of coronavirus do not in any way diminish the impact and importance of Pride in the Dutch capital.