The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress is hanging in the Drents Museum in Assen this week. The artwork consists of flags of countries in which it is forbidden to be LGBTIQ+ and is intended to draw attention to equality.
The artwork currently contains 68 country flags and 9 rainbow flags. As soon as a country changes its legislation for LGBTIQ+ people in a positive way, a rainbow flag will be added and the national flag will disappear from the dress.
The Drents Museum is the first in the Netherlands where the artwork is shown outside the Randstad. By exhibiting the dress, the museum wants to convey that inclusivity is important. In addition, LGBTIQ refugees from Drenthe and Groningen will have the opportunity to view the artwork.
One of them is non-binary Ash Shahhoud from Lebanon, who fled that country two years ago. “In Lebanon you are not allowed to be who you are and that has only become worse in recent years. Religious organizations are doing everything they can to attack the LGBTIQ+ community,” says Shahhoud.
Shahhoud decided to flee to the Netherlands after a serious incident with family members. “They did not support me and that is why I ran away from home. When my family found out where I was, they tried to kill me. I was beaten up in broad daylight on the street.”
With the help of strangers, Shahhoud managed to escape from her relatives and eventually fled to the Netherlands. Here the Lebanese refugee first ended up in Ter Apel and later in an asylum seeker center in Drenthe. But Shahhoud doesn’t think it’s really safe there.
“I love the Netherlands, I can be whoever I want here. But that is not possible in the asylum seekers’ center. There I am again among the same kind of people as in my home country,” says Shahhoud. “When they find out I’m non-binary, they scream or spit at me. I’ve even been bitten once.”
According to Shahhoud, the arrival of the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress in Drenthe is important so that more people realize how many countries LGBTIQ+ people cannot live safely in.
“I am ashamed that the flag of my country is in the dress. Many people think that Lebanon is a safe country for LGBTIQ+ people, but that is really not the case. I am an example of that.”
The dress can still be viewed in the Drents Museum until March 10.