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Celebrating the Queer in Amsterdam

Decent Essays

I think the celebration of LGBT identities in Amsterdam from the article "Gay Men and Lesbians in the Netherlands" by Gert Hekma and Jan Willem Duyvendak to the movie we watched was an interesting look at LGBT struggles (or lack of struggles) and identities found in the Netherlands in comparison to the United States. At first glance, from both the movie and the article, Amsterdam just seems like a wild, amazing time for people of all sexualities. Equality has been reached. Hallelujah! Let's party! Beyond this outward appearance of equality and acceptance, Amsterdam's LGBT culture must be unpacked and examined beyond just gay people partying a lot like in the documentary. I think the article "Gay Men and Lesbians in the Netherlands" did a pretty good job of unpacking Amsterdam's LGBT culture but a criticism I have is that the article pretty much forgot bisexuals and trans people in its analysis of Amsterdam's gay culture. Bi and trans erasure is a thing that regularly occurs in both straight and gay spaces so I was not surprised by this but it is telling about both the authors and Amsterdam in general. This is a connection that will be addressed because we did read articles on both bisexual and trans people. Amsterdam, in its goal to become the gay haven of the world, has conveniently forgotten about everybody else in the LGBT struggle including many people of color, and that must be tackled for positive change to occur. As the article "Gay Men and Lesbians in the

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