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Spectators
crowd around transvestites as they pose for pictures on a
podium prior to a stiletto run competition at the occasion of the Gay Pride festival in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Friday Aug. 5, 2011. Saturday the traditional Gay Pride boat parade will sail through Amsterdam's canals including a float of the Dutch military implementing a "Do Tell" policy, starkly contrasting with the US military's stand of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) on homosexuals in the military. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) |
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AMSTERDAM
(AP) -- Embracing a policy of "Do Tell," the Dutch military joined
Amsterdam's annual Gay Pride parade for the first time this year, with
uniformed men and women saluting the crowds from a boat chugging through a
historic city canal.
A
balloon-festooned barge bearing the standards of the service branches and
sponsored by the Defense Ministry sailed among about 80 other floats, with
music blaring from most of them and dancers dressed in flamboyant costumes - or
very little at all.
The parade,
watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators lining the Prinsengracht canal,
capped a weeklong festival of around 300 parties and events. It included the
popular "Drag Queen Olympics" with contests like the stiletto race
and the long-distance handbag toss.
U.S. and
British activists sailed with Dutch generals and other senior officers - some
gay and others showing solidarity - among some 80 military and ministry
civilian personnel.
Unlike the
U.S. military, gays have openly served in Dutch units since 1974, and for 25
years have had a department within the ministry that minds their interests, the
Foundation for Homosexuals in the Armed Forces.
Still, gay
servicemen say having their own presentation in the famed floating parade
marked "a huge step forward" in a country already noted for sexual
equality.
The
foundation had been denied permission for several years to join the event,
although in the last two years soldiers were allowed to participate in military
dress on other boats. "The political leaders thought it was not
appropriate to wear a uniform at this kind of parade," said army Maj.
Peter Kees Hamstra, a foundation spokesman.
"This
shows everyone that the climate is changing," he said.
Hamstra
said 6 to 8 percent of the Dutch military are gay or lesbian - about the same
as in the general population.
"It's
so amazing to be here. This country got it right," said former U.S. Army
Lt. Dan Choi, who was discharged last year after violating the "don't ask,
don't tell" policy. Choi applied to re-enlist after President Barack Obama
signed a law last month repealing the ban.
"I
intend to go back to the Army, in whatever capacity they most need," he
told The Associated Press. But he'd like to be in the Army Reserve so that he
can continue developing his new role as a gay-rights activist.
A West
Point graduate and fluent in Arabic, Choi served in Iraq as a translator before
acknowledging in a television interview that he is gay.
Also
invited was British naval officer Lt. Cmdr. Mandy McBain, a human resources
specialist who as a closeted junior officer had to process the papers of
soldiers being dismissed because of their sexuality. Britain lifted the ban on
gays in the military in 2000.
Despite its
reputation for sexual liberation, harassment of gays inside and outside the
military exists, and may have increased in recent years with more clashes
reported.
"There
are some macho units" in the Dutch military, said Hamstra. Women also are
excluded from some units.
But Choi
said, "The Dutch have been leaders, and Americans look up to that,"
while the U.S. military remains saddled with discriminatory policies.
Even after
the recent legislation, "people will still be treated unfairly in the
military. They just cannot get fired for being gay," he said.
He faulted
Obama for deleting nondiscrimination language to win passage of the bill.
"He's
not seeing gay people as legitimate and a recognized minority," Choi said.
Gay soldiers have no family benefits for partners, nor can they use normal
channels to complain of harassment, he said.
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| Gay Pride 2011 - "Dutch Military Boat" (Photo: RNW) |
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| Gay Pride 2011 - "The Police Boat" (Photo: Willem Sluyterman van Loo /NOS) |
About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”
"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)
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