PRIDE PARADES in Amsterdam are the ultimate carnivals of European tolerance. Streets and canals are flooded with buzz-cut women, men in bondage gear and variations on the rainbow flag that only an expert in gender heraldry could parse.
But one flag was unwelcome at this summer’s parades: Israel’s. An organising committee tried to ban it. The ban was cancelled after the mayor objected, yet a Jewish queer group that carried one at a pride march on July 20th was berated by Palestinian-flag carriers until it gave up.
