1 August 2009. It was fun. While 5 US-Dutch gay couples were married on the boat, I paraded along the canal with my posters. 560,000 visitors watched!
Talking to Americans along the route it was painfully clear that people know we are discriminated against by US immigration law, but they seem to accept that that is just the way things are. Only exiles I met along the way know the pain of exile and want to become active. But we need all of us to demand our rights.
I went to the VIP deck to meet the marriage boat as the couples diesmbarked. Minister Plasterk, the minister for Education, Culture and Science who sailed on the boat behind the marriage boat, disembarked shortly after. He is someone that all the press wanted to interview. I overheard his interview with one press reporter, and he said “We have to Dutchify the world and globalize gay rights”. Good that he was able to use our placard as a prompt. As we were about to leave, with our placards, we heard our names being called. Plasterk requested the press photograph him with our placards.
We are visible.
http://www.nufoto.nl/fotos/108043/gay-pride-feestje-in-amsterdam.html
A siting of our poster on the VIP deck at Gay Pride