Past events

On Thursday 23 November 2023, FORWARD hosted its Winter Event at Canary Club in Amsterdam with an informative session about Pinkwashing. Many companies and other organizations say they are committed to LGBTQIA+ diversity and inclusion. But are they really, or do they just have a rainbow logo on their LinkedIn profile during Pride? Bete van Meeuwen and Pepper Wering shined their view on the phenomenon of Pinkwashing. Afterwards there were drinks and bites.

On Wednesday, 2 August 2023, FORWARD hosted its annual Pride event. This year we celebrated Pride with a network event at Brug34 in Amsterdam.

On Thursday, 8 June 2023, Forward hosted a panel discussion at LAB111 in Amsterdam. The theme of the evening was LGBTQIA+-inclusion in the sports world. It was prompted by recent developments, especially in the soccer world, such as Orkun Kökcü's refusal to wear the One Love band during matches. During the panel discussion, led by Eveline Rethmeider, the panel members Michiel van Dijk (Partner CMS), Pepijn Keppel (former professional field hockey player and author) and a delegation of Roze Supporters shared their views.

On Wednesday, 12 April 2023, FORWARD hosted its spring event at Ketelhuis in Amsterdam. During this event we watched the movie Concerned Citizen. This movie tells the story of an Israeli couple living in a multicultural neighbourhood in Tel Aviv. The couple is confronted with their own prejudices in this sharp and satirical drama. After the movie, there were drinks and bites.

On 7 December 2022, FORWARD organised a panel discussion with the theme: The Rule of Law for Everyone? Speakers Ruud Koole, Rob Hofland, Marc Janssens and Han Warmelink gave their views on the rule of law and the limits of public debate, hosted by Eveline Rethmeier.

It was so nice to see each other again in person after two years. The FORWARD Spring Event was well attended and we would like to thank everyone who was there. During this event, Sara Coster of "Stichting Meer dan Gewens"t and employment lawyer Loes Wever spoke about the legal challenges that non-traditional family forms still face in 2022. It was an inspiring evening and made us all think. What can I do within my organization to give non-traditional families the space they need?

Time flies when you are having fun! This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Legal LGBT+ Network FORWARD. After a period of 1.5 years, in which there were no – or only limited – possibilities to get together, FORWARD organised a lustrum event with guest speakers sprekers Barbara Barend ((sports)journalist en TV host), Sander van 't Noordende (CEO Randstad, board member Out & Equal) en Zohair El Yassini (member of parliament VVD), met Astrid Oosenbrug (chairperson COC Nederland) as moderator.

On November 7, 2019, FORWARD organized, an interactive training on unconscious bias in collaboration with ROSE Stories and Nina Blussé, at The Hoxton. During the training, the participants were introduced to their own brain and their unconscious bias in an interactive way. They have gained insight into the process of unconscious prejudices, and the effect thereof on daily thinking and doing, also on the work floor.

On International Coming Out Day, FORWARD and Lawyers for Lawyers organized a special event with guest speakers Michel Togué (human rights lawyer and activist from Cameroon) and Boris Dittrich (member of the Senate). Michel and Boris spoke about their experience and the challenges in defending LGBTQI+ + rights in an international context. In addition, Corporate Queer (Remco Boxelaar) launched a poster campaign to raise awareness of the meaning of the letters in the LGBTQI+ + alphabet.

On the hottest day of the year, it couldn't be hot enough during the Gender Neutral Latin Dance Workshop at the FORWARD Summer Event. Dance with him, dance with her, especially dance with everyone! Under the inspiring guidance of Jorge Suarez from Latin Amsterdam and Swing Latino, attendees danced their feet off. Afterwards, the cooling cocktails at Kanarie Club were more than welcome.

The LGBTQI+ community has a rich history, also in the Netherlands and certainly in Amsterdam. During the Sharing Stories - LGBTQ + guided tour in the Amsterdam Museum, personal and special stories from the community were told against the background of the beautiful museum collection. Educational and inspiring.

It is estimated that more than 2 million people in the Netherlands have bisexual feelings, fantasies or experiences, but you rarely hear about it. Time to pay more attention to that. Emiel Maliepaard , the speaker during the winter event, shed light on why bisexuals do not want to come out, but do occasionally want to express themselves as bisexual. He calls it the bisexual (in) visibility paradox , and discussed a number of ways forward to deal with this paradox and how bisexuality can become more visible.

In fall 2018, FORWARD hosted a private movie screening of the pink rom com "Just Friends" in cult cinema Lab111 in Amsterdam. The screening was preceded by a lecture by Henk Burger, the films screenwriter.

In collaboration with cycling studio Rocycle, FORWARD got sportive for a special (P)RIDE. During a 45-minute workout on Pride beats from the likes of RuPaul, Lady Gaga and Geri Halliwell, trainers Luuk and Joey ensured everyone started the Amsterdam Pride weekend on a high. Cooling down with healthy smoothies included.

For solstice, trans women Lisa van Ginneken and Tess Bens shared their experiences about their transition and the challenges they faced. Both women work with Transvisie, a Dutch foundation for gender diversity. It's obvious the T is inextricably linked to other letters of the LGBTI+ community.

During a tour of Amsterdam zoo Artis, we learned that the animal kingdom shows amazing diversity in gender identity and sexual orientation, Did you know that 25% of the wild flamingos are homosexual? Gay couples build nests which are twice the size of heterosexual couples. Did you also know that 78% of female Japanese macaques are lesbian? For macaques a greeting is all it takes to mount each other? In short, enough conversation starters for the subsequent drinks in Grand Café De Tropen.

Network event at the College Hotel.

Networking event at FOAM with guest speaker Aynouk Tan, a lecturer on fashion and identity. She observes fashion from an anthropological point of view and discusses how the clothes we wear constitutes our identity and perceptions. In her renowned column in Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad she weekly dressed herself in a different outfit to physically address these themes.

Network event at the W Hotel with guest speakers twins Marja and Ellie Lust, telling their life stories about growing up, coming to terms with being lesbian and now being advocates for LTBTI+ rights.

Opening drink with guest speaker Valentijn de Hingh, a Dutch female fasion model & DJ. From the age of 8 until the age of 17 de Hingh was filmed for the Dutch television program "Valentijn", following her transition.