Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten and Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema opened the WorldPride Human Rights Conference with an unequivocal warning about the organized forces working to reverse LGBTQIA+ rights around the world – and their equally defiant commitment to the Netherlands to being a global beacon of hope and safety for LGBTQIA+ people.
“We celebrate how far we have come, but the fight continues,” Halsema said during her opening address. The Mayor also spoke out against discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people being used as political cover or fuel for other kinds of hate. “We must confront intimidation, hate and extremism… Discrimination against LGBTQI+ people can never be used to justify harm against other groups.”
The WorldPride Human Rights Conference brings hundreds of activists, political leaders, academics and policymakers together for more than 70 sessions addressing rights and governance, health, culture, leadership, economic exclusion, political representation and workplace inclusion. Yet before those conversations began, Jetten the first openly gay Dutch prime minister placed the central threat plainly before the room: “The rise of online hatred is one of the biggest threats facing LGBTQI+ people today… These groups no longer feel restrained, with big social media companies barely moderating content for hate speech anymore.”
“There are toxic, highly organized and well-funded groups hiding behind the façade of freedom of expression.” He said also citing these groups mission to acquire political power and manufacture division.
“Misinformation—and disinformation—can be spread in the blink of an eye, with a single mouse-click. Reaching much further than NGOs, youth workers and health organizations can.” Jetten acknowledged.
The danger, he argued, is not limited to the people actively conducting hate campaigns. It also lies in the indifference that gives those campaigns room to flourish.
“This is always how hatred takes hold: in the shadows, outside the spotlight of society, underestimated by everyone, until, having grown into a many-headed monster, it crawls out of the darkness.”
Jetten challenged the conditional language that too often passes for LGBTQIA+ acceptance: “I’ve got nothing against gay people, but…” The problem is that pesky word “but”—the qualifier so often used to soften the blow of discrimination in many forms. The idea that acceptance of queer people and other minorities remains dependent on making themselves quieter, smaller and more palatable to the majority. His message was clear: equality with strings attached is not equality, and the “but” must be removed altogether.
“This has nothing to do with me,” he said, describing a familiar response when another community is targeted. “I’m not gay. I’m not a woman. I’m not trans. I’m not a person of color.”
“But sooner or later, you may find that you have become the target,” he continued. “And that makes protecting freedoms the responsibility of us all.”
Jetten and Halsema also rejected the false pretense spread across the world that positions LGBTQIA+ rights as a form of Western decadence.
“Equal rights are not a Western agenda. They are, first and foremost, a human agenda.” Jetten declared in front of attendees from over 47 nations, some of which do not recognize LGBTQIA+ freedom and safety.
He pointed to progress across Asia, Latin America and parts of Africa, while noting that many laws used to criminalize queer people were themselves imposed by European colonial governments. The attempt to portray LGBTQIA+ equality as foreign therefore relies on a profound historical inversion: colonial era restrictions are what has defiled indigenous tradition, and the diverse gender and sexual identities that existed before the colonial era actively began. “No matter how hard those conservative forces try to pull the wool over people’s eyes,” gender diversity was not invented by modern Western institutions. It has always been here.
But Jetten didn’t stop at lofty declarations – he announced the Dutch government will launch a national dialogue on confronting online discrimination, training municipalities and civil society organizations. The government will invest €7.5 million over the next three years to strengthen LGBTQIA+ safety in Dutch cities, including public information campaigns addressing discrimination and disinformation. There will also be continued funding for “Purple Friday” where students and teachers wear purple and schools organize lessons or activities around diversity, inclusion and creating a safer environment for LGBTQIA+ pupils and minorities.
Internationally, Jetten pledged continued Dutch support for local activists, NGOs and lawmakers through diplomatic networks and the Equal Rights Coalition.
Queer communities around the world are confronting coordinated political attacks, escalating disinformation and attempts to reverse rights once considered secure. But the opening of the WorldPride Human Rights Conference was shaped by poignant resolve with remarks from Pakistani trans activist Nayyab Ali (she/her,) Venezuelan lawyer, professor and the first open trans Deputy of the Venezuelan assembly Tamara Adrian (she/her), and Michael O’Flaherty the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
“This is a year of milestones in the Netherlands,” Halsema said. “Twenty-five years of marriage equality, 80 years of COC—the oldest surviving LGBTQI+ advocacy organization in the world—and 30 years of Pride in Amsterdam.”
“Amsterdam remains committed to being a safe haven for queer people worldwide,” she added.
“You are not alone,” Jetten told LGBTQI+ communities and human-rights defenders around the world. “We stand with you.”
The WorldPride Human rights conference runs from August 5th to August 7th 2026.