Gridcrosser: Amsterdam Rainbow Dress Sashays to the Philippines

Friday, August 16, 2024

Amsterdam Rainbow Dress Sashays to the Philippines

Amsterdam Rainbow Dress on display at the Trinoma Activity Center in Quezon City (Photo by Roel Hoang Manipon)

Aside from garnering a record-breaking attendance, the Philippine LGBTQ+ Pride Month celebration and protest, Love Laban 2 Everyone: Pride PH Festival 2024, had another notable feature—the wearable installation Amsterdam Rainbow Dress, which was brought the country and to Southeast Asia for the first time.

The installation is a dress made of the national flags of countries where being LGBTQ+ or LGBTQ+ acts are illegal, punishable by imprisonment, torture and even death. When a country adopts LGBTQ+ inclusive legislation, its flag is replaced with a rainbow flag. The dress, which has a diameter of over 16 meters or 52 feet, is made up of 68 flags, the bodice made from the city flag of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. The European country is notable in LGBTQ+ history, being the first to legalize same-sex marriage.

The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress traces its roots to the Euro Pride/Amsterdam Pride 2016. At the Pride Walk parade held on the opening day on July 30, flags of 75 countries where homosexuality was illegal in 2016 were carried. These flags were afterwards presented to Arnout van Krimpen, Jochem Kaan, Oeri van Woezik and Mattijs van Bergen, who spearheaded the creation of the dress with volunteers from COC Nederland, a LGBTQ+ organization, and the Amsterdam Museum. The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress was unveiled on 5 August 2016. It has been brought to many parts of the world and was used in many art photography projects, with the aim of raising awareness on the global struggle of the marginalized community and of advocating for acceptance and equal rights.

The Philippines is one of countries that the dress is brought to, bringing more significance to Love Laban 2 Everyone: Pride PH Festival 2024 on June 22, 2024, in Quezon City.

According to organizer Pride PH, a network of LGBTQ+ groups, and the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress Foundation, the “presence of the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress at this year's Pride highlights the international solidarity for LGBTQl+ rights, reminding us that the fight for equality transcends borders.”

“With the world's eyes on the Philippines, it is imperative that we seize this moment to pass laws that are inclusive of the LGBTQI+ community and persons of diverse SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics),” they further stated.

An art photography shoot was mounted featuring comedian, actor and host Vice Ganda, one of the most prominent Filipino LGBTQ+ personalities. The project had Vince Liban, Jap Ignacio and Jaymie Reyes as project managers, and filmmaker and Drag Den creator Rod Singh as creative producer. Vice Ganda was photographed wearing the dress, with one photo showing the Quezon Memorial Shrine in the background, by the duo of Cenon and Mav (Cenon Norial III and Mav Bernardo).

After Love Laban 2 Everyone: Pride PH Festival, the installation was on display at the central atrium of the mall TriNoma in Quezon City on June 25 and 26. It was accompanied by multi-colored panels that showed some highlights in Philippine LGBTQ+ history including the march of a lesbian collective during International Women's Day in 1992; Pro-Gay Philippines’ rally at the Quezon Memorial Circle, called Stonewall Manila, in 1994; the very first Pride March in the Philippines and in Asia in 1996; a gay political party, Ang Ladlad, appeared on the ballot for the first time, fighting for the Anti-Discrimination Bill, in 2010; the Metro Manila Pride March and Festival: Here Together with more than 8,000 attendees in Marikina City the 2017; the Metro Manila Pride March and Festival: Rise Up Together gathered a historic 25,000 attendees in Marikina City n 2018; the Metro Manila Pride March and Festival: Resist Together made history with the biggest Pride march attendance in the Philippines with over 70,000 attendees in Marikina City in 2019; and Quezon City holding its first QC Pride March and Festival, attended by about 25,000 people, in 2022.

Another set of panels told about the different forms of discrimination and marginalization and challenges that LGBTQ+ people encounter every day and in many areas.

“The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress not only stands as a powerful symbol of these rights but also celebrates the rich culture and history of the queer community—emphasizing the importance of diversity and acceptance in our society,” organizers said.