For our fifteenth anniversary, from August 10 to 14, we are planning a full edition with a parade and festivals at new locations. As a theme we look to the future and we look for QUEERTOPIA. What does the ideal LGBTQIA+ world look like in fifteen years?
“A fifteenth birthday is usually a moment to look back on the past,” says Antwerp Pride chairman Bart Abeel. “And although a lot has changed for the LGBTQIA+ community in our city since the first Antwerp Pride in 2007, we want to look resolutely to the future this year.”
That is why we ask ourselves: what will society and our LGBTQIA+ community look like in fifteen years? And above all: what do we want our society to look like in 2037?
Asking that question immediately raises a series of other tantalizing questions.
Will another Antwerp Pride be needed in 2037? And if so, what should it look like? Will there be more letters with our LGBTQIA+ community or will we have a different name? Will our language use be gender neutral by then? And the fashion? Will trans people have more autonomy over their transition by then? Will we have a gay Red Devil in 2037? Is there still discrimination in the labor market against queer people of color? Are we still looking for sex through apps? Can people of the same sex marry in church by then? Will we still have to come out? Who will win Rupaul's Drag Race in 2037? Will there still be gay bars or how will we go out? Will we take better care of each other?…
In short, Antwerp Pride is looking for the ideal LGBTQIA+ society this year.
“We all make a society together,” Bart Abeel continues. “So it is good to think longer term than the issues of the day. We invite everyone to think and dream about QUEERTOPIA. We will raise the questions above and many others in our magazine, on our social media, during debates, conversations and other activities during Antwerp Pride. But I'm sure more questions will pop up in the coming months. Not that we will come to a final conclusion. QUEERTOPIA is not so much the destination, but the journey towards it.”
Although we look to the future, there is also a link with the golden age of our city. After all, the philosophical work Utopia from 1516 by the English humanist Thomas More begins on the Handschoenmarkt in Antwerp.
The fifteenth edition of Antwerp Pride will take place this year from Wednesday 10 to Sunday 14 August and the organization is planning a full edition with a parade and a Love United Festival on Saturday and Closing Festival on Sunday.
There will be parties at two new locations. The newly constructed quays at De Gerlachekaai will be the main festival site. The Sint-Andriesplaats will also have a rainbow infill.
“We will of course continue to speak with two words,” says Abeel. “But according to the virologists, we can still prepare for a summer in which more will be possible again. After two light editions for known reasons, we hope to be able to celebrate our third lustrum with all the bells, feathers, glitter and everyone in town.”