Curator Europride '94 to Sue Organisers

AMSTERDAM. The trustee appointed to wrap up the financial mess
left behind by the organisers of last year's Amsterdam held
Europride may sue the organisers of the event, notably Europ-
ride director Hans Verhoeven for being in default. Although
Europride was set up as a foundation Dutch law makes it possi-
ble to sue individual members of a foundation that has gone
bankrupt if non-performance can be proved. In the case of Eu-
ropride the debts left behind amount to some 1,000,000 Dutch
Guilders (US$ 700,000) and as there are hardly any assets left
the 40-odd creditors can expect to receive only some 4% of
their claims. To add injury to insult Mr. Verhoeven, who is
seen as the man who is to blaim for the debacle has claimed
several thousand guilders himself, a claim which the curator
quickly dismissed. 

Long before last year's Europride there were rumours in the
Amsterdam gay community that the organisation would go under
leaving debts of at least DFL 500,000 (US$ 350,000). The deba-
cle is blaimed on the fact that the organisation from the be-
ginning refused any assistance from outsiders, recruitment of
volunteers was started far too late, events were hardly announ-
ced and there were rumours of organisors squandering Europride
funds. In the run-up to the Gay Pride March on the 25th of june
many changes to the scheduled events had to be made, bills were
left unpaid, performances failed to materialise. Even the gay
pride march, very well attended and made possible by a last-
minute loan from the COC-N.V.I.H. of 50,000, turned out to be a
financial disaster. The idea was that sales of beer and r-
efreshments would generate enough cash to pay off debts, but
when far too few bars were set up and as a result people had to
stand in long lines many went to bars nearby for drinks. Accor-
ding to the curator the organisors of Europride '94 have by
their behaviour seriously aggravated the situation and thus can
be held personally responsible for at least part of the debt.


Holiday Drag Show to be Organised on Mallorca

THE HAGUE/MALLORCA. Whereas in the old days the only dragshows
that could be seen in Holland would be those held in Amsterdam
gay bars and performances by Georg Preusse ("Mary") on West-
German t.v. nowadays drag-shows seem to be everywhere. Last
year the commercial Veronica network started a series of drag-
shows on national tv, last week the SAD-Schorerstichting staged
a dragshow to raise funds for the fight against AIDS and next
fall the musical "La cage aux follies" will open in Amsterdam.
Now a firm called Top Entertainment has come up with the idea
to combine drag and vacationing, organising a contest for drag-
queens in the Spanish holiday resort of Mallorca under the name
of a "Miss Travestie"-holiday. The event will take place from
september 10-17 and consists of shows in different hotels on
the island of Mallorca with a grand finale and prizes on the
16th. "We welcome participants from all over Europe, not just
from Holland, but so far we got more attention from the media
than from potential applicants", according to Mrs. Ter Heijden,
who runs the The Hague office. So, pull out those pumps, dig up
those dresses and contact Mrs. Ter Heijden for more information
on tel. int-70-3455747.