THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — Amsterdam’s annual gay boat parade may feature a Jewish float for the first time.
The Jewish boat for the Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade 2014, part of a three-day summer event for gay Jews from all over the world, is a project launched by a group called Exodays, whose board is made up of several young Jewish activists.
To participate in the parade, the Exodays entry must be selected in a lottery next week. More than 100 boats typically compete for approximately 80 spots. The Dutch media reported that it would be the first Jewish boat in the event, which is being held Aug. 1-3.
“For a long time Amsterdam has been called the Gay Capital of the World,” the group’s website reads. “Jews have played leading roles in this process and marked its landscape.”
The parade, which organizers say is the world’s only regularly held aquatic event of its kind, will take place for the 19th consecutive year.
In previous years, the event has drawn thousands of participants from dozens of countries and tens of thousands of spectators who huddle along Amsterdam’s Prinsengracht Canal to watch the colorful, themed floats chart a course of two to four hours.
