There is a lot of power in showing up fully, not just as a tourist or a participant, but also as a statement. For me, Amsterdam Pride was just that. It is a confrontation as well as a celebration. A bold statement and a welcome home in queer skin.
I’m a gay Igbo man from Njikoka LGA of Anambra State, Nigeria. That already means I carry stories with me, some happy and many sad. I know what it means to be told you’re a disgrace. I know what it means when family members ignore you. I know the silence that comes when someone says your name. And I know what it means to survive that and still choose love, softness, and visibility.
This Pride weekend, I went to Amsterdam with my partner, my man. Two gay men strolling hand in hand beside the canals, dancing, kissing fearlessly, and surrounded by freedom, glitter, and flags. You may not understand how radical that is if you’ve never been told your existence is an abomination. But we are aware.
We were there to take up space, not just to have fun, though we certainly did. To walk like kings. To put on joy like armour. To keep ourselves and anyone else watching in mind that being queer is not something foreign to us; it is our birthright. That two men love each other is not a curse; it is a miracle in a world that is meant to break us.
Seeing other gay Africans dance and hearing strangers shout “Happy Pride!” made me feel plenty of different emotions. It made me wonder what our lives could look like if we were always safe. If we didn’t have to perform or hide. If we could simply be.
Amsterdam Pride gave me a glimpse of that life, and I refuse to unsee it. I refuse to fade back into the background. My queerness is not a phase, not a shame, not a sin. It’s how I shine. It’s how I love. It’s how I survive.
And walking through Amsterdam, hand in hand with my man, surrounded by music, by movement, by freedom, I felt like the most honest version of myself.
I wasn’t performing. I wasn’t hiding. I was home in my body, in my love, in my truth.
And that’s the kind of pride I carry with me now, not just in Amsterdam, but everywhere.
