5th edition Queer History Month March 2025

Queer History Month is an annual event dedicated to the history of LGBTI+ people, their rights, and topics related to LGBTI+ art and culture. Forty cultural and heritage organizations will focus on LGBTI+ history and queer themes this month to pass on knowledge to new generations. Participating organizations will introduce their audience to the achievements and legacy of LGBTI+ people in Dutch history through forty different objects. The month is taking place for the fifth time and is organized by IHLIA LGBTI Heritage.

Queer History Month March 2025

IHLIA and other participating cultural institutions proudly present the annual Queer History Month in the Netherlands for the fifth time. This year, they will once again collaborate on a platform where the celebration and transmission of LGBTQ+ histories, stories, and achievements take center stage. New this anniversary year is the presentation of a database containing 40 objects with queer themes from 40 different museum and archive collections in the Netherlands. In addition, just like every other year, we offer an overview of programs and activities organized by our partners. So let yourself be surprised once again by a wonderful selection of guided tours, lectures, and other interesting gatherings.  

Queer

Queer is an umbrella term for homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, intersex, and non-binary people, among others. The term is usually used to explain that someone does not feel at home within heterosexual and cisgender norms and questions so-called 'boxes'. In the sixteenth century, the word queer was used in the English language as a synonym for 'strange', 'eccentric', or 'peculiar'. The word can refer to something suspicious or to a person exhibiting undesirable behavior. In British literature, 'queer' referred to 'feeling unwell'. The first time the word 'queer' referred to homosexuality was in 1894. Lord John Sholto Douglas (1844–1900), the 9th Marquess of Queensberry, used this word while writing an angry letter about his eldest son, Francis, who had just died. Francis worked for Lord Rosebery, with whom he had a romantic affair. Douglas wrote in his letter that “snob queers like Rosebery” were responsible for his son's death. Lord John Sholto Douglas was a Scottish nobleman who became known for sponsoring the Queensberry Rules and lending his name to them. The rules form the basis of modern boxing and were devised by John Graham Chambers. He is also known because he Oscar Wilde challenged after he began a relationship with his son Alfred Douglas, which led to a lawsuit. As a result, Wilde spent two years in prison, during which his health deteriorated severely. Wilde would eventually die in the same year as Douglas, at the age of 46.  

Use

During the 80s, when the AIDS epidemic occurred, the term 'queer' was appropriated by the LGBTI community. This time, the term had an activist meaning and could be used for all people who disagreed with sexual and cisgender normativity. Queer opposes not only heteronormativity, but all ways of pigeonholing people. One of the first times the term was used in this context can be found in the flyer 'Queers read this'. This was distributed during New York Pride in June 1990. Members of the organization 'Queer Nation' wrote this pamphlet, in which they discussed and explained the use of the term: “Do we really have to use this word? It is asking for trouble. Every homosexual person has their own view of it. For some, it means crazy, eccentric, and mysterious […] For others, 'queer' evokes terrible memories of suffering […] Sure, 'gay' is great. It has become well-known. But when many lesbians and gay men wake up in the morning, we feel angry and filled with disgust. We do not feel 'gay'. That is why we choose to call ourselves 'queer'. For us, 'queer' is a way to remind ourselves how we are perceived by the rest of the world.” In Anglo-Saxon countries, queer is often a synonym for homosexual, and as such, the term is used, for example, in the titles of the television series Queer as Folk and Queer Eye. Queer is also sometimes used as an umbrella term instead of LGBT, for example, in the names of the film awards Queer Palm and Queer Lion.  

Publication 'Talk with the Hand' (September 13, 2021)

According to the designer of the sheet, Bart de Baets, who responded to Bate's blog (September 12, 2021): In my opinion, PostNL is being too timid with the subject of the stamp, and the actual theme is barely reflected in the press release. My stamp is not about the sign language spoken by the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, but about the arm, hand, and wrist movements of homosexual men. A series of hands quickly traced with a pen, combined with a neatly ironed shirt, attempts to give form to this about eight times. As Bate describes it beautifully, the hand and the striped shirt break free from the strict grid that serves as the background of the stamp. Every time this succeeds, a graceful interplay of lines emerges with which the roughly drawn hands do not know what to do. I recognize my own large masculine hands here, which ensure that I smoke a cigarette in a somewhat feminine way, or that when I take a nut from a bowl, I do so one by one, instead of a whole scoop and then gobble, swallow, and devour it. I think my stamp is awesome. I find it sexy and love the discomfort between the various distinct elements. The combination of hard and soft colors results in a strong contrast with the simple yet rigid grid. Your observations, knowledge, and criticism encourage me to make myself heard, but above all, to keep coloring outside the lines. I cherish the sloppiness with which I deliberately designed the stamp and hope to shake the prestigious design commission a little with it.  

Pride flag

The 'Pride Progress flag' – designed by American designer Daniel Quasar – strives for greater inclusion within the LGBTI+ movement. The new colors pink, turquoise, and white represent the inclusion of trans people, including non-binary people and those who identify as gender non-conforming; the new colors black and brown represent the inclusion of Black people and people of color.  

<strong> More info: </strong>

Queer History Month: https://www.queergeschiedenismaand.nl/ Collection: https://www.queergeschiedenismaand.nl/objecten/ Programme: https://www.queergeschiedenismaand.nl/programma/ Trailer film Queer (2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eknj5_0tF2s