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WHAT is QUEER ROTTERDAM?

We are a collective platform created by and for the queer people of Rotterdam. We organize a big variety of low key events that you can attend. Our aim is to connect, empower and support the queers of Rotterdam and beyond in order to create a community for everyone.

WHO are WE?

Since the beginning, Queer Rotterdam has been run by a core group of people from the local community, with different backgrounds and identities. Throughout the years Queer Rotterdam team has changed and grown with many more queers being involved in one way or another.

WHEN was QUEER ROTTERDAM FORMED?

Our organisation was created in 2018 when a group of grassroots organizers (The Genderclowns) called the community together to ask an important question: “What do the queer people of Rotterdam need?”. Thus, a small group of people started organising low-key events as much as they could. At the end of 2021 we became a foundation ('stichting'), allowing us to receive funding that we can use for our own space and a great variety of events.

WHY ‘QUEER’?

We use the term ‘queer’ instead of 'LGBTIQ+’ because we believe the combination of those letters does not cover the complex reality that well. Human identities are more complex and often fluid. For example, you can be more than one letter at the same time. The distinction of the letters also makes it harder to look at intersections of oppression. Next to that, for us ‘queer’ stands for questioning the cis*het norm and all its contraptions. We also uses the word ‘queer’ politically. The word ‘queer’ does not just refer to sexuality and gender; but this term becomes political too, situated within a dominant narrative of white-cis-hetero-monogamous patriarchy where certain – and intersecting – sexualities and genders are marginalised and oppressed. We share queer values and sometimes use our platform to set ethical boundaries. Be it by taking part in protests or by sharing information and resources.

WHAT are OUR PRINCIPLES

Queer Rotterdam stands for the following principles:

• Solidarity is the magic that holds us together. With a good understanding of how we all differ, we can act and support each other’s needs. With that knowledge we can stand up with those of us who are oppressed in accumulating and intersecting ways; every single one of us deserves to be supported, especially our most marginalized members.
• All bodies are welcome, no bodies are wrong.
• We practice thinking in spectrums, and try to let loose of binaries.
• “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” - Audre Lorde. Through our actions we want to empower each other, learn and grow with meaningful actions. We hold ourselves and each other accountable in constructive ways. We do not fall back on patriarchal and capitalist methods of violence, shunning or cruelness. We strive for honesty, respect and integrity. We embrace messiness and the hope for transformation.

That being said, behaviours and outings of discrimination have no place at our events:

• We are against discrimination of people based on their ethnicity, background, class, abilities, gender, biology, looks, sexuality, religion and other behaviour that stems from xenophobia.
• We are against beauty standardization, we say YES to exploring your personal aesthetics.

FOR WHO is QUEER ROTTERDAM

For all 18+ (LGBTIQ+) queers in Rotterdam and beyond.

WHERE is QUEER ROTTERDAM?

We are located in the Zoutziedersstrat 20 in Rotterdam-West. Use the gate on the side of the building to enter.