Resilient Amsterdam.

When Chris Crain, the editorial director of gay newspaper chain Window Media, was severely beaten by seven men in Amsterdam for holding hands with his lover on Queen's Day, a dark cloud fell over the jubilant national holiday that is treated as a mini pride day' by Amsterdam's gay residents. The incident, which occurred on April 30, could deliver a shocking blow to "pink" tourism in a city known for having some of the most progressive gay' rights laws in the world. "They're afraid of losing their title as Gay Capital of the World," says Kenneth Dee, a journalist for www.gay2day.be, a Dutch gay-news site based in Antwerp, Belgium. "[Gay' people] don't want to be invisible again, but they are most scared that the intolerance will grow." Crain described his assailants as having "Moroccan-like features," leading many to view the bashing as the latest in a series of culture clashes over the Netherlands' immigration policies. In a Washington Blade editorial, Crain wrote that "violent intolerance among Islamic immigrants toward gays ... won't be solved by hating them right back." Many gay people in Amsterdam feel the same way. To commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia, on May 17, demonstrators planned to "hug and kiss in public," Dee says.