European Forum

On Saturday afternoon 19 May we will make a boat trip through the canals of Amsterdam. This trip ends at the Homomonument.

The Homomonument is a symbol of the long road of homo-emancipation in the Netherlands and far beyond. It consists of three triangles who together constitute one large triangle. The three triangles represent the past, the present and the future. The picture on the left shows the model of the Homomonument in the miniature city Madurodam in The Hague.

On 4 May, which is in The Netherlands remembrance day for all victims of war, a ceremony was held here. Among others Secretary of State Marja van Bijsterveld spoke and the chairman of COC Amsterdam (the most wellknown LGBT organisation in The Netherlands). Flowers were laid down on behalf of the Dutch government, the city of Amsterdam and a huge number of LGBT organisations. One of these was the LKP: chairman Wielie Elhorst and vice- chairwoman Heleen de Boer laid flowers. The picture on the right shows the Homomonument right after the ceremony.

We too, will have a short moment here to commemorate everyone who was murdered or persecuted because of his or her sexual preference or identity. We will celebrate the freedom to be who we are, at least today at this place. And we call for vigilance, now and in the future. We will see a dance, our co-presidents will lay flowers and we will sing our song from Finland: Courage to follow the law of love.

After the ceremoney we walk to the Oude Lutherse Kerk for our Open Church Service.

You can read more about the Homomonument:

• on it's website in Dutch
• on Wikipedia in English
• in the book Dancing on the Homomonument (in English), only available second hand. The Dutch edition is not available anymore.