Ede celebrates first Pride ever amid 'record year' for LGBTQ events

The city of Ede will hold the first Pride in its history this weekend, with events ranging from a film evening to educational lectures. It is among several cities that are hosting their own Pride for the first time ever this year, according to the NOS.

Organizers hope the event in Ede will lead to more acceptance of the local LGBTQ community in a predominantly religious area, they told the NOS. "Because as a queer person it's not nice to grow up here," said 18-year-old Beau Bakker, one of the organizers. "It's a pretty conservative community. If you walk down the street hand-in-hand with your partner or dress in a certain way, you'll be stared at or even scolded."

Such Pride events outside the Randstad region can help reach local groups better than larger festivals, said Patrick van der Pas, chairman of Pride Netwerk Nederland. And they are growing –– from Nijverdal and Zaanstad to Groningen and The Hague, "with all these new initiatives, 2022 can be called a record year," Van der Pas said.

Ede's Pride events will take a "different approach" than the parades and parties associated with larger events like Amsterdam Pride, Bakker said. In this way, organizers hope to start a dialogue with religious residents. Some educational events will, for instance, explain how parents can support LGBTQ children and why conversion therapy should be illegal.

"When people think of Pride, people quickly think of the image of the boat parade in Amsterdam, with half-naked people dancing...We recognize that it is part of the queer community and therefore Pride," Bakker explained to the NOS. "But because that image feels provocative to many residents in Ede, we are opting for a different approach."

The organizers of Ede's Pride also hope to dispel the myth that people cannot be both religious and part of the LGBTQ community. Esther van Vliet, who was ostracized by her evangelical Christian community after coming out, said she hopes the activities of the weekend will help people talk to each other. "If we inform the outside world, I know things will get better within the queer community," she said.

As local Pride events become increasingly popular, Drenthe remains the only province that does not yet have one, according to the NOS. Van der Pas said such local celebrations of Pride are a good way to increase visibility of LGBTQ residents in these areas, "in a way that does not emphasize the differences, but people brings together."