The Amsterdam Pride is an annual gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 festival

Festival

A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....

 in the centre of Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, organized in the first weekend of August. With several hundreds of thousands visitors this event is one of the largest public events of the Netherlands. The pride is organized since 1996.

The peak of the festival is during the canal parade

Gay pride parade

Pride parades for the LGBT community are events celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture. The events also at times serve as demonstrations for legal rights such as same-sex marriage...

, a parade of boats of large variety on the first Saturday of August, which usually goes from Westerdok over the Prinsengracht, Amstel

Amstel

The Amstel is a river in the Netherlands which runs through the city of Amsterdam. The river's name is derived from Aeme stelle, old Dutch for "area abounding with water"....

 river, Zwanenburgwal

Zwanenburgwal

The Zwanenburgwal is a canal and street in the center of Amsterdam. The painter Rembrandt and philosopher Spinoza lived here. In 2006 it was voted one of the most beautiful streets in Amsterdam by readers of Het Parool, a local daily newspaper....

 and Oudeschans to Oosterdok.

The centre of the parties and concerts during the festival is the Rembrandtplein

Rembrandtplein

Rembrandtplein is a major square in central Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is named after the famous painter Rembrandt van Rijn....

and during the festival there are many activities in the surrounding area.

External links

• Amsterdam Pride (official website)
• Amsterdam Gay Pride
• Weareproud.nl
• ProGay.nl - ProGay homepage
• Photos of „Amsterdam Gay Pride“ (2006 to 2010)
• Amsterdam Gay Pride Canal Parade (Video)
• Photo of Reguliersdwarsstraat