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History: Pink Christmas
From 2008 till 2012, Amsterdam also had a gay event in the winter, called Pink Christmas. For this, also some activities were being held in Reguliersdwarsstraat.
updated: 21-07-2015
History
Pink Christmas started in 2008 as a 10-day event with a variety of gay activities in Amsterdam. In Reguliersdwarsstraat there is a Pink Christmas Fair and some other attractions.
The first Pink Christmas Fair in Reguliersdwarsstraat was held on Sunday December 21, 2008. At the centre of the street there were market stands of gay bookshop Vrolijk, Black Body, RoB and Gays & Gadgets, but also of Amnesty International, one with fair trade products from Tibet and one with gay artwork:
Market stand with gay artwork (2008)
In the garden of gay bar ARC there was a very stylish living nativity scene with drag queen Miss Windy Mills acting as the virgin Mary. This was meant to draw attention to the fact that in Christian religion there are still problems with homosexuality. However, the rumour that there would be two Mary's and two Joseph's caused much criticism, not only from christian groups, but also from many gay people who thought this was unnecessary provocative.
Living nativity scene in the garden of ARC (2008)
At the Geelvincksteeg, in front of Bar ARC, there was a small ice-rink, scene of the first Drag Olympics Winter Game, in which drag queens performed several ice-skating disciplines in a hilarious way. In the following years this event was moved to a bigger skating space at the Leidseplein.
In the year 2010 almost all the gay venues in the street had to close because of the bankruptcy and death of their owner Sjoerd Kooistra. The Pink Christmas Fair was therefore held at Zeedijk. In Reguliersdwarsstraat there were only posters remembering the glorious past of the big gay venues, and a nice mural at the Carlton Hotel:
Christmas decoration underneath the Carlton Hotel (2010)
In 2011 the Pink Christmas Fair was back again in Reguliersdwarsstraat. There was a colourful mix of market stands with all sorts of gadgets and goodies, but also a fashion show of underwear, swimwear and fetish clothing at a pink catwalk.
Due to the economic crisis, the businesses in Reguliersdwarsstraat weren't able to organize a Pink Christmas event in 2012. Therefore, the fair was once again held near the gay venues at Zeedijk. However, the official opening party of Pink Christmas 2012 was held in the new gay disco NYX.
Pictures
Here you can see some pictures of Pink Christmas in Reguliersdwarsstraat in previous years:
Links
- Former website: www.pinkchristmas.nl
- In Munich and Berlin: www.pink-christmas.de
- In Vienna: www.pink-christmas.org
