It’s summer so it’s time for Antwerp Pride and Antwerp Queer Arts Festival (AQAF). From 4 to 27 August 2023, AQAF hosts queer artists being queer, in the alternative, quirky, more rebellious sense of the word. Antwerp Pride, from 9 to 13 August, is more mainstream, openly catering to everyone and thus attracting a general, more mainstream LGBTQIA+ and allied public. This year’s pride theme is ‘Braveolution‘.

In an interview with Gazet van Antwerpen, new Antwerp Pride chairman Geert Van Praet previews this year’s pride. 

One of the topics discussed is size. Events private and public in Belgium are seen as successful when they are large and / or they last long. If you throw a private party – a wedding party, a dinner party or a Eurovision party for instance – it will be seen as a success when people stay a long time. 

For public events, size matters. Last year, Pride attracted 180,000 visitors in five days, with 20,000 partygoers at the Love United Festival on Saturday and the Closing Festival on Sunday. 

“We started in 2008 with a small parade of five cars, now we are touring the streets of Antwerp with an impressive parade of forty trucks and once as many delegations. If we want to stay in the center of the city, and we want to, we have to make sure it doesn’t get much bigger”, Geert Van Praet says.

Pride and / or protest

Another recurring conversation around pride is the discussion on what pride should be. Party or protest? 

“I see it as a fight by celebration. We want to make people think. (…) The media help us spread our message. Because I still get the question of a million: is the pride still necessary?”

Is it necessary? 

“Is dat nu nodig?“, “is it necessary?”. Another belgicism. A typical Belgian attitude of questioning if something is necessary. As is questioning if people should put (tax) money into a project. It’s a nasty attitude which prevails in Belgium. In Belgium you’re doing well when you don’t stand out. Everything standing out such the ‘flamboyance’ of pride or the search of excellence in professional sports is seen as showing off and thus unnecessary. It’s a tiring attitude. 

One could ask if pride is opportunistic or effective in what it pursues. But no, the question is always “is pride necessary”.

Geert Van Praet: “We have come a long way, we can be proud of that and we can celebrate. Tolerance has grown and the LGBTQIA+ community has acquired many rights: marriage, the right to adopt, the extension of the anti-discrimination law that also takes sexual orientation into account and transsexuals can change their marital status. Really great, but we are a small country in Europe and the extreme ideas are gaining ground in many places. Italy has scaled back adoption rights for same-sex parents, the situation for transgender people has deteriorated in the United Kingdom and the anti-gender movement is growing in Poland, Hungary and here too. We must remain alert, because where will we be in five or ten years. Not only the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community are under pressure, the rights of women and other communities are also under threat. We consider ourselves very fortunate that the city of Antwerp supports us so well.”

It’s the sound of the police, whoop whoop

Pride and police, or pride v. police. Another recurring theme around pride. An issue imported from the United States. 

This year, some unnamed activists have written an open letter protesting the association of the police to pride. They have two main issues. The police is present weekly at Café Den Draak, Het Roze Huis‘ bar and it’s ‘uninvitedly’ present in the pride parade. 

The latter is nothing new. As a matter of fact, Antwerp Pride and LGBTQIA+ police officers used to fight to make this possible. They paraded for the first tine in uniform in 2014. Then-Minister of the Interior Joëlle Milquet (CDH, now Les Engagés) was firmly against, but Mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA), and out police chief Serge Muyters were pro. 

And police presence at Den Draak? I guess the Diversity Cell of Antwerp Police should know better. Then again, how queer is Den Draak? It’s very much a mixed straight-gay place, in the centre of gentrified Zurenborg. Its patrons are mostly white, (middle to upper) middle class, progressive, left and / or green. Not exactly the centre of queer, non-conforming to straight expectations activism. 

You can read the open letter here. 

The future of Antwerp Pride

Anyway, I diverge. Antwerp Pride is run by volunteers. It’s very much a grassroots initiative. Sp, how does the organisation cope? 

Geert Van Praet: “By working hard with a core team of twenty volunteers. Saturday and Sunday 220 volunteers are at work, on the day of the parade we filled 700 work shifts. But as a volunteer organization it continues to struggle. The workload is enormous, the costs are mounting. We are a free festival, our survival depends on the weather at the moment. As chairman, I want to establish a financially solid, high-quality organization that can continue to exist. Our message must get across, but it must remain manageable. We receive subsidies from the City of Antwerp, Tourism Flanders and Equal Opportunities, but I hope to be able to rely even more on corporate sponsorship in the future. For that you need a nice, solid story and we are working hard on that.”

Pride and corporations

Geert Van Praet and interviewer Karin Vanheusden cut short of tackling another hot pride issue: pride and corporations. Although…

Geert Van Praet: “Together with my predecessor Bart Abeel and Kat Van Nuffel, who is an expert in the field of inclusion, we give workshops and masterclasses to CEOs and HR people. We used to notice some reluctance from companies to do business with Antwerp Pride. Since our concrete efforts in the field, many companies are interested in being inclusive. CEOs realize that three to five percent of their employees may be LGBTQIA+. We already have a partnership with dozens of companies: Agoria, SD Worx, MSC, the City of Antwerp, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, the VRT, Bank van Breda, Ford, Cargill, the Belgian Armed Forces, etc. There are companies that commit thirty employees to volunteer during Pride, including CEOs.”

Pride and politics

Is Antwerp Pride political?

Geert Van Praet: “I am not involved in party politics, but we do need politics to be able to achieve things. All parties, except Vlaams Belang, have signed our mission statement and are taking part in the parade. It is not Antwerp Pride’s place to put a political package of demands on the table. There are already enough organisations in our civil society that are working on this, we give them a megaphone. Besides, coming out and showing who you are is already a statement”.

Tips for a successful Pride week

Antwerp Pride shared some tips for a successful pride week.

• “Get inspired during Beyond Antwerp Pride, where we focus on our theme Braveolution. Tickets for these events are free, but you have to make a reservation!”
• If you are coming to the parade on Saturday, be sure to check the route and find a good spot!
• Avoid the queues at Love United and Closing Festival: Payment is made via the new app and you can already charge.“
• “On Sunday we walk hand in hand as a sign of protest! We call on everyone, no matter how you identify, to walk hand in hand on Sunday August 13 with someone of the same gender identity or with someone who does not dress gender conforming. Beyond Antwerp Pride Protests!”
• Are you visiting from outside Antwerp, use public transport as much as possible. On the website of Slim Naar Antwerpen you will get all the tips to get to the city quickly. Thanks to Velo Antwerpen and Donkey Republic, you also get a discount on their means of transport during the entire pride week! Check the info here.
• Be sure to keep an eye on the weather forecast and take sufficient measures against possible rain or protection against the sun.
• Waterlink provides drinking water points in these places along the parade route and our festival site. Sint-Jansplein, St. Anne’s Pedestrian Tunnel, Kloosterstraat, Entrance to the Cockerillkaai festival site.

Antwerp Pride 2023 & Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2023

• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | Antwerp Pride activities and events especially for women.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | VULGAR joins Woodpop, A Hard Night, Oh Honey, SHE, H.I.M, Terrazza, Cutfest 2.0, The Boots and Belgian Puppy Social as Pride Saturday party.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | 20 years Het Roze Huis and Café Den Draak’s Midsummer Party on Thursday 6 August at Draakplaats.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | Introductory Queer Tour of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp (KMSKA).
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | MAS Darling queer culture and film festival 9-10-11 August.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | Love United Festival, post-parade concert and party.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | Pride – WOMEN – In Town at Sint-Andriesplaats.
• Antwerp Pride Parade 2023 route & map.
• Antwerp Pride 2023 theme, programme and schedule highlights.
• BEYOND ANTWERP PRIDE | Discussing, educating, empowering and protesting for recognition of LGBTQIA+ people.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | WE Fashion and OUTtv provide safe change / fitting rooms for going to the pride parade.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | Holding hands for visibility on Sunday 13 August.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | Eurovision’s Gustaph to perform at Closing Festival on Sunday 13 August.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | Opening Night concert & party at OLT Rivierenhof.
• 4-27 AUGUST | Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2023 programme and schedule.
• 2023 Antwerp Pride Parade route includes Kloosterstraat and a hello to czar Peter the Great.
• Antwerp Pride 2023 Festival at Cockerillkaai.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 9-13 AUGUST 2023 ‘BRAVEOLUTION’ | Make Antwerp a brave and safe.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | ‘Braveolution’ to Brave Space Antwerp.
• Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2023 seeks contributors.
• ANTWERP PRIDE | Geert Van Praet succeeds retiring chairperson Bart Abeel.
• PHOTOS | Antwerp Pride 2023 from Wednesday 9 to Sunday 13 August.

Darklands 2023-2024

• Darklands 2024 from 27 February to 4 March.
• ANTWERP | Darklands 2024 going into ‘The Void’ under new, stricter city rules.
• “Darklands: The Hotel was an idea of A-Stay”.
• DARKLANDS 2023 | Programme and schedule.
• DARKLANDS 2023 | A-Stay to become official Darklands: The Hotel.
• Darklands 2023 from Tuesday 7 to Tuesday 14 March in Antwerp.
• Darklands 2023 to and from Deep Space.

Queer Antwerp

• Antwerp Pride, Jeffrey’s, Marie Antoinette, Armand Everaert win 2023 Touristico Gaylive Awards.
• ANTWERP | LGBTQIA+ bookshop Kartonnen Dozen stops.
• Rainbow zebra crossings of Antwerp.
• Rainbow zebra crossing in Borgerhout.
• Rainbow zebra crossing in Berchem.
• City chronicle ‘De kleur van de stad maakt mijn ziel amoureus’ recounts Queer Antwerp history.
• ‘Masculinities: Liberation through Photography’ exhibition at FOMU, Antwerp’s photography museum.
• Antwerp’s LGBTQI+ bookshop Kartonnen Dozen wins Çavaria Media Award.
• PHOTOS | Rainbows lit Antwerp.
• Flemish LGBTQI+ press support rainbow community in Ukraine.
• ALLEMAAL ANTWERPENAAR | Antwerp launches campaign to motivate citizens to stand up against discrimination and intimidation.
• Borgerhout flies intersex inclusive Rainbow Progress Pride Flag for IDAHOT.