Photography: Noah Valentyn
Styling & MUAH: Sjoerd Willemsen
Interview: Paul Hofman
When he was asked to be an ambassador for Pride Amsterdam 2018, Vanny Reyes was momentarily speechless. “I was ecstatic and could hardly believe it. It is such an honour.” Besides his work as an information analyst at Amsterdam transport company GVB, he volunteers in his scarce free time as coordinator for Meeting and Empowerment at COC Amsterdam. “It has become more than a hobby. My aim: to raise volunteering to a professional level.”
Enthusiastically, Vanny Reyes (45) talks about his childhood, studies, work and ambassadorship. He is the epitome of the bicultural Dutch person. His roots are on Aruba, where he was born as the youngest son of a Colombian mother and an Aruban father. In this time of growing polarisation in our society, he is clearly not “the white person with privileges.”
After finishing secondary school on the Leeward island, he decided to study in the Netherlands. The Netherlands never let him go and he stayed. Amsterdam had already been his dream city.
Even before he came to the Netherlands, he experienced an unofficial coming-out. It was the early 1990s. “I started to rebel against my parents. After their divorce I told them. My mother was understanding. She had known for a long time. But my father reacted differently: he was not happy and didn’t speak to me for a long time.” After he told his father in 2003 that he accepted Vanny’s homosexuality, they spoke again. “Fortunately I can now enjoy both my parents again.”
As ambassador he will focus on volunteering and, of course, on diversity and inclusivity within it. The fact that he already does this for COC Amsterdam is an absolute asset. He knows the ropes when it comes to LGBT+ people of fully or partly foreign origin. “Safety comes first.” He emphasises that “it’s not just important to organise activities, but also to help people stand up for themselves and make their own choices.”
The Pride theme means a lot to him. Who is his greatest hero?
He doesn’t have to think long before answering: “All the volunteers and my parents. Volunteers because they work, in limited time, with passion and heart for the acceptance of sexual and gender diversity. And my parents because they gave me love, support and, above all, a foundation to be myself.”
“VOLUNTEERING IS NOT OPTIONAL”
Pride ambassador since 2018
