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Dinah Bons Amsterdam/Paris

@dinahbons

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Latest academic research published at IJFAB: International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics https://utppublishing.com/journal/ijfab

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Today reminded us exactly why the Trans Chill Out Space at Milkshake matters. 💜From the moment we opened, people kept finding their way to us. For a hug. For a conversation. For information. For a moment to breathe. We spoke with so many people about hiv, N=N (Undetectable = Untransmittable), prevention, stigma, and the alarming global reality now that funding for the hiv response is disappearing in many parts of the world.The interest in our work was overwhelming. Aryelle had to rush off for several performances throughout the day, so the girls happily stepped in backstage as well. Between the music, the dancing and the joy, there was also room for meaningful conversations that truly mattered.A huge shout-out to Aryelle and Alara, who spoke with countless visitors, answered questions with patience and warmth, and made everyone feel welcome. ❤️We received so many hugs, so much love and trust—and we were honoured to give that love right back. Even though it was unbelievably busy… we did it.Tomorrow we go again.Because hiv awareness and activism belong at queer festivals. Especially now, when new hiv infections among younger people are rising in several communities. Pride is celebration, but it is also education, solidarity and making sure no one is left behind.See you tomorrow at the Trans Chill Out Space. 🌈#MilkshakeFestival #PozitivelyTrans #UequalsU #HIVAwareness by @dinahbons

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10 hours ago

Rest is not a pause from the work. Rest is part of the work.This morning, Bénédicte reminded me that healing begins in stillness. I feel recharged, grounded and ready.Today and tomorrow I’ll be at @milkshakefestival with the amazing team of @pozitively_trans_hivvereniging Pozitively Trans, holding our Trans Safe Space—a place for connection, care, knowledge and radical love.To everyone celebrating the Pride Walk and the opening of WorldPride Amsterdam: have an unforgettable day. Celebrate loudly, care for one another, and never forget that our existence is still an act of resistance.“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” — Audre Lorde#WorldPride2026 #PozitivelyTrans #TransJoyIsResistance #MilkshakeFestival by @dinahbons

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21 hours ago

Amsterdam once had nights that shaped an entire generation. Not just because of the music, but because of the people who found each other, became family, and reinvented what freedom could look like.Long before Pride became an industry, there were parties where people truly met.I first met Jurandy Lucas when we were both just young boys and became for a while a couple. Back then, he organized the legendary Baseball parties for newly arrived students from the Dutch Caribbean. They were never just parties. They were a homecoming. Great food, incredible music, and the beginning of friendships that would spread across universities and cities throughout the Netherlands.That same spirit is still alive in everything Jurandy creates today. You can feel the DNA of Amsterdam’s golden nightlife years: the Roxy, the iT, Havana Upstairs, and the magic of Reguliersdwarsstraat. Not as nostalgia, but as a culture that still knows how to bring people together.This World Pride, BACKDOOR x WE Party – PICANTE carries that legacy into 2026.Some parties you attend.Some parties become part of your life story.See you on the dance floor?#WorldPrideAmsterdam #BackdoorParty #QueerHistory #WeParty by @dinahbons

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2 days ago

Ballroom was never about glamour.It was about staying alive.In the early ‘90s I walked into Ballroom as an androgynous Brown gay sex worker living with HIV. We weren’t chasing trophies. We were trying not to die.Our House Mothers became our parents because the world had abandoned us. They taught us how to walk, how to fight, how to survive, and how to bury our friends with dignity.Today everybody loves Ballroom.But where were you when we were dying?The same Black and Brown trans women, queer people, sex workers and people living with HIV who built this culture were ignored, criminalized and left to die. Now their legacy is profitable, while many of the survivors still struggle with trauma, poverty and being erased from the very history they created.And let’s be honest.It is still happening.Many of the Black and Brown trans and gay elders who survived the 1980s and 1990s are welcomed as symbols, but not as voices. Too often we are invited to be remembered, not to be heard. We make people uncomfortable because we remember what really happened. We remember who fought, who disappeared, who was left behind, and who now profits from a history they never had to survive.Our voices disrupt the comfortable narrative.That’s exactly why they matter.Don’t tell me Ballroom is just entertainment.Ballroom is AIDS history.Ballroom is Black history.Ballroom is trans history.Ballroom is queer survival.Marsha P. Johnson. Sylvia Rivera. They were called crazy before they became icons. The same system that celebrates our dead too often sidelines its living pioneers.So while you’re serving looks, remember who built the runway beneath your feet.It wasn’t corporate Pride.It wasn’t rainbow capitalism.It was Black and Brown queer and trans people, sex workers, homeless kids, people living with HIV, drag queens, butches, femmes, and every soul who refused to disappear.I’ll proudly stand at the OPUS 1 Ball not because Ballroom needs me.But because I will never stop honouring the people who built it.Respect your elders.Listen to your survivors.Because the stage you’re standing on was built by the people you’re still too afraid to hear. by @dinahbons

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3 days ago

💜 Iedere dag Pozitively Trans tijdens Amsterdam WorldPride 💜Tijdens Amsterdam WorldPride is de HIV HUB dé ontmoetingsplek voor iedereen die meer wil weten over hiv, community en verbinding. En natuurlijk is Pozitively Trans iedere werkdag aanwezig met een eigen ruimte in de HUB.Onze community space is een veilige plek waar trans en genderdiverse mensen die leven met hiv, bondgenoten en bezoekers welkom zijn voor een gesprek, informatie, ondersteuning of gewoon een moment van rust.🛍️ Daarnaast vind je bij ons iedere dag een Vintage Fashion Shop, gevuld met prachtige donaties, onder andere van Milkshake Festival. Kom lekker snuffelen tussen unieke kleding en accessoires – alles gratis of tegen een vrijwillige donatie zolang de voorraad strekt.💇 Iedere woensdag is onze geweldige Alara aanwezig. Zij knipt haar, geeft make-up advies en deelt handige tips & tricks om helemaal klaar te zijn voor de festivals, de Trans Walk en alle evenementen tijdens WorldPride. Of je nu een frisse coupe wilt, een nieuwe look zoekt of gewoon gezellig wilt langskomen: je bent van harte welkom.✨ En mis vooral vrijdag 31 juli niet, wanneer Pozitively Trans de Women’s Day organiseert voor alle vrouwen die leven met hiv – cis, trans en genderdiverse vrouwen. Een dag vol ontmoeting, spoken word, muziek, lekker eten, fashion, beauty en vooral veel warmte en verbinding.De HIV HUB is iedere werkdag geopend van 12.00 tot 18.00 uur. Alle activiteiten zijn gratis.Kom langs. Ontmoet nieuwe mensen, zie oude bekenden terug en ervaar de kracht van een community waar je welkom bent precies zoals je bent. 💜 Bekijk het volledige programma van de HIV HUB hier:WorldPride HIV HUB Programma⁠#PozitivelyTrans #WorldPrideAmsterdam #hivhubcoworkingspace by @dinahbons

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3 days ago

What if sexuality isn’t just about sex… but about power?Next Wednesday I’ll have the honour of joining an incredible panel during WorldPride Amsterdam at the Kinky Masterclass: Sexuality of Women, Trans and Gender-Diverse People, hosted by Dante Woods, with social scientist Linda Duits as keynote speaker.I’m proud to represent Pozitively Trans and to share the panel with Jay Hamilton, Suzanne van de Laar, Maxi Meissner, Deepa Paul and Mirjam Preusterink.As a trans woman living with hiv, a sex worker, community organiser and activist, I want to take the conversation somewhere we don’t often dare to go.What if our desires are also shaped by history?What happens when colonialism, racism, religion and patriarchy don’t just influence our politics—but also our fantasies?For many years I worked within the sex work community and encountered clients whose fantasies revolved around race, domination, submission, trans bodies and colonial imagery. Rather than judging those desires, I want to ask where they come from—and what they reveal about the societies that shaped us.I also want to acknowledge something that deserves far more recognition: the kink community has often been ahead of mainstream society. Consent, negotiation, boundaries, trust, communication and aftercare are not buzzwords there—they are fundamental practices. Perhaps healthcare, education and society have more to learn from kink than kink has to learn from them.And of course, I will also speak about something very close to my heart: sexual freedom for people living with hiv. Because pleasure, intimacy and desire belong to us too. U=U changed the science years ago. Now it’s time for society to catch up.I’m looking forward to an evening of honest conversations, curiosity and maybe a little discomfort.Because freedom begins where shame ends.📍 29 July | 20:00–22:00📍 Fosbury & Sons, AmsterdamThank you @kinky.masterclasses.amsterdam and @fetishpride.amsterdam for creating space for these important conversations.#WorldPride2026 #KinkyMasterclass #PozitivelyTrans #HIVAwareness #sexpositivefeminism by @dinahbons

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4 days ago

You don’t end an epidemic by ending the people who stop it.Let’s call this what it is.This isn’t fiscal responsibility.This isn’t efficiency.This is ideology over evidence.Community organizations built the trust that governments never could. They reached the people others ignored. They brought HIV testing, PrEP, PEP, treatment, dignity and hope into communities abandoned by politics.Now they are being dismantled.Every dollar cut today will be paid back tomorrow—in new HIV infections, preventable deaths, shattered communities and exploding healthcare costs.History will not remember this as a budget decision.It will remember it as a political choice to abandon people.You cannot end HIV by defunding the people who have been ending it for 40 years.If you silence community, you amplify the virus.Fund communities. Not ideology. Thanks @aidsunited #EndHIV #FundCommunities #HIVJustice #CommunityLeadership #uequalsu by @dinahbons

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5 days ago

I won’t be in Rio. And that is a political choice.For decades, the @aids_conference by @iasociety has been where science, healthcare and people living with HIV came together to change the course of the epidemic.Today, many of the organisations led by people living with HIV can no longer afford to be there.The people who fight stigma every day.The people who get others into care.The people who make sure medication reaches those who need it.The people who turned U=U from science into reality.Instead, many of the voices now filling the space are organisations that are allies—but not organisations of people living with HIV.Representation matters.With the little funding our community has left, I choose to invest it in people, not plane tickets. In peer support, access to treatment, trans-inclusive HIV care, community outreach and saving lives.If conferences truly believe in community leadership, then make participation accessible. Use hybrid panels. Pay community experts for their expertise. Stop expecting people living with HIV to carry the epidemic while excluding them from the rooms where decisions are made.The progress towards the 95-95-95 targets was not built by conferences alone.It was built by people living with HIV.Don’t erase us from the future of the HIV response.#IAS2026 #HIV #PeopleLivingWithHIV #plhivresponse #budgetcutshiv by @dinahbons

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6 days ago

Vandaag gebeurde iets wat ik niet snel zal vergeten.Tijdens de workshop Beyond the Binary hebben we geprobeerd elkaar niet eerst te ontmoeten vanuit gender of seksuele oriëntatie, maar vanuit de vraag: welke gave breng jij mee voor de gemeenschap?Dat veranderde de sfeer volledig. Er ontstond rust, openheid en een diep gevoel van verbondenheid. Door samen te ademen, stil te worden en de verbinding met onze voorouders te zoeken, voelde ik een bijzondere aanwezigheid en leiding. Voor mij was dat een bevestiging dat oude kennis nog steeds in ons leeft, als wij bereid zijn te luisteren.We gaven opnieuw betekenis aan hidop orang basudara – leven als één gemeenschap – en aan ale rasa, beta rasa: jouw gevoel raakt ook mij. Niet omdat we allemaal hetzelfde zijn, maar omdat we elkaar dragen.Misschien was dat vandaag wel de grootste ontdekking: een gemeenschap wordt niet sterker ondanks haar verschillen, maar juist dankzij de verschillende gaven die ieder mens meebrengt.Terima kasih. 🌊🐚🔥🌋#PacificQueer #MolukseGemeenschap #Dekolonisatie #HidupOrangBasudara by @dinahbons

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6 days ago

La Nuit des AncêtresCette nuit, le voile s’est ouvert sans bruit.Je n’ai pas cherché les ombres,j’ai rencontré la lumière.Dans le silence d’une profonde séance,les mains invisibles de mes ancêtresont entouré mon âme d’une paix ancienne.J’ai reconnu des visages que le temps n’efface pas :la famille qui veille,les amis qui continuent d’aimer,les esprits bienveillants qui marchent à nos côtés,même lorsque nos yeux ne les voient plus.Ils n’ont apporté ni peur, ni mystère,mais une tendresse infinie.Chaque parole était une semence,chaque silence, un enseignement.Puis vint Xangô,mon Orisha de tête,porteur du tonnerre, de la justiceet de l’équilibre entre la force et la compassion.Sa présence ne pesait pas ;elle élevait.Il m’a rappelé que la vérité n’a pas besoin de crier,que la dignité résiste aux tempêtes,et que celui qui reçoit la connaissancene la garde jamais pour lui-même.J’ai quitté cette nuit le cœur plus vaste qu’à mon arrivée,chargée non d’un fardeau,mais d’une mission.Ce que j’ai reçu n’est pas un privilège.C’est un don confié à mes mainspour être partagé avec douceur,pour consoler ceux qui souffrent,pour guider ceux qui cherchent,et pour rappeler à chacunque l’amour traverse les frontières de la vie et de la mort.À l’aube, lorsque le premier rayon a touché la terre,je n’étais plus seule.Je marchais accompagnéepar celles et ceux qui m’ont précédée,par les esprits de lumière,et par Xangô,dont le feu ne détruit pas,mais éclaire le chemin de celles et ceuxqui choisissent de servir avec courage, justice et amour. #xangô #pombagira #voudounmagic #amourancestral by @dinahbons

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8 days ago

Niet wat luid is, is waar. Niet wat schittert, is licht. Het ware leeft waar ziel, geest en daad elkaar ontmoeten🐚🌊🌋 #pasifikacreatives #happysoul❤️ by @dinahbons

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8 days ago

Nog een paar weken… ❤️🏳️‍⚧️Wat ben ik trots.In een paar maanden tijd hebben @roqueline.v , @aryellefreeman_hopelezz en ik met Pozitively Trans een warme community opgebouwd voor trans- en genderdiverse mensen die leven met hiv. Een nieuwe groep van de @hiv_vereniging Tijdens WorldPride Amsterdam organiseren we samen met de hiv Vereniging onder andere de Global HIV Hub, een WomenX & hiv Friday, een Trans & Gender Diverse Safe Space tijdens @milkshakefestival , de hiv-boot , de Pride Walk en nog veel meer.Dit is mogelijk dankzij het Empowerment Fonds, onze donoren en alle partners die in onze community geloven.Maar waar ik het meest trots op ben? Niet de evenementen.Wel dat we een plek hebben gecreëerd waar mensen zich veilig voelen. Waar we elkaar dragen in een wereld waarin hiv-stigma, transfobie, racisme en sekswerkstigma nog steeds dagelijks pijn doen.Wij kiezen voor verbinding. Voor liefde. Voor elkaar.En dat doen we gelukkig niet alleen. Samen met de collega’s van de hiv Vereniging, Amsterdam UMC en zoveel vrijwilligers laten we zien dat niemand er alleen voor hoeft te staan.Led by us. For us. Together. ❤️#WorldPride2026 #PozitivelyTrans #HivVereniging #HIV #transhealthmatters by @dinahbons

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9 days ago