How the Netherlands is turning gay and why the world will too..
Recently, the Central Bureau of Statistics of the Netherlands published a study that was prominently featured in the media, concluding that 18% of the Dutch population is LGBTQIA+.
These are unprecedented percentages and numbers, and yet they do not come out of the blue.
Years ago, a study by the (Dutch) Social Cultureel Planbureau showed that 6 to 8% of Dutch people identified as gay or lesbian. Even more interesting was that another 6-8% of the Dutch population admitted to regularly having same-sex relationships, but did not identify as such.
In the weekly LGBT History Tour that I give in Amsterdam, a two-hour walk that covers queer history, forgotten heroes and the gay family, I jokingly called it growth potential. The perhaps sad truth behind this is, that this group of people chose because of church, family and society to embrace the accepted side of their sexuality.
Being gay or lesbian, the coming out process, finding your way in the wonderful world of the gay community can be a challenge. You do it because it is who you are and you cannot do otherwise. It is not a choice as was thought for so long and that choice was also punished with prison sentences, exclusion and therapies.
It is now the members of the Trans community, the A of A-sexual and Intersex Queers, binary, non-binary people, black gays and lesbians, Muslim gays and others who are now more and more visibly emancipating themselves.
There are now words and role models for something that has always existed but that you had to search for a long time on your path to what your identity was.
Let us look at Intersex. 1 in 40,000 babies is born intersex and until recently corrected to one of the two sexes you were allowed to be, man or woman. Just like homosexuality has long been seen as a mental illness, a neurosis that had to be cured. Intersex people were not allowed to exist in a world that consisted of men or women. The suffering
De snelle stijging in LGBTQIA+ cijfers en waarom het geen verrassing zou moeten zijn.
Onlangs verscheen er het onderzoek van het Centraal Bureau van de Statistiek, dat prominent gebracht werd n de media waarin wordt geconcludeerd dat 18% van de Nederlandse bevolking LHBTQIA’er is, dat zijn er in totaal ruim anderhalf miljoen mensen boven de 15 jaar.
Dit zijn ongekende percentages en aantallen en toch komen ze niet uit de lucht vallen.
Reeds jaren geleden liet een onderzoek van het Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau zien dat 6 tot 8 % van de Nederlanders zich als homo of lesbisch identificeerde. Nog interessanter was dat nog een 6-8 % van de Nederlandse bevolking bekende regelmatig same seks relaties aan te gaan, zich echter niet als zodanig identificeerde.
In de wekelijkse LGBT History Tour die ik geef in Amsterdam, een twee durende wandeling waarin queer geschiedenis, vergeten helden en de gay familie aan bod komen noemde ik dat schertsend groei-potentieel. De misschien wel trieste waarheid hierachter is echter dat deze groep mensen ervoor koos vanwege kerk, familie en maatschappij om de geaccepteerde kant van hun seksualiteit te omarmen.
Homo of lesbisch zijn, het coming out proces, je weg vinden in de wondere wereld van de gay community kan een uitdaging zijn. Je doet het omdat het is wie je bent en je kunt niet anders. Het is niet een keuze zoals zo lang gedacht werd en die keuze werd dan ook nog bestraft met gevangenisstraf, uitsluiting en therapieen.
Omdat de meest LHBT’ers heterosexuele ouders hebben moet elke generatie LHBT’ers het wiel helemaal opnieuw uitvinden. Er is geen overdracht van geschiedenis en verhalen. Een van de redenen waarom ik de tour ben gaan doen. Mijn kleine bijdrage.
De tijden zijn veranderd, in de jaren 80 van de vorige week, zo’n vijftig jaar geleden, was er een, twee rolmodellen, Albert Mol en Jos Brink beiden acteur en bekende Nederlander.
Met het homo-huwelijk werd gedacht dat het nu wel klaar was met de emancipatie van de
Story-telling : forgotten queer heroes and what we can learn from them.
The LGBTQAI+ community as scapegoat
The organization of Pride Amsterdam gave me the opportunity to give two story telling shows in Parool Theater here in Amsterdam, for which I am very grateful.
The word in 2024 that defines Pride was “Together”. It was this word that motivated me to tell the story of my personal queer heroes, gay resistance fighters in WW2, Willem Arondeus, Frieda Belinfante and Sjoerd Bakker.
Willem Arondeus famous last words were, “Let the Dutch know that homosexuals are no cowards”
After all he was the organizer of the assault of the registry office in 1943, was betrayed and was executed by the Nazi’s.
Him showing the Dutch that queer people are brave was to no avail. The Dutch preferred to contribute this act to a heterosexual person, Gerrit van Veen, who was also part of the group but not the leader and organizer.
Brave Queer people were just an inconvenient truth in post war homophobic Holland.
Why did Arondeus this? I firmly believe that he was led by wanting to fight injustice. Being an openly gay man in those days and feeling the consequences he could not, not fight the nazi’s. If he wanted the Dutch to look different at the LGBTQAI+ community then he had to lead. How else could he expect others to fight for us?
As mentioned to no avail but now is the time for a different narrative of history. A history that is diverse and inclusive.
That means that the community with all the letters we have these days should stand in front of each other. Because what we have in common is that society and politicians like to use the community as scapegoat for any problem for which they do not have a solution.
Society will not stand in front of the community. The Aids epidemic that hit the community is its most poignant example.
A virus (hiv/aids) that hit the community first was ignored for six years, a more recent virus (covid) made the world stop, the first
Anita Bryant and a Dutch singer
The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was always a beacon of decorum. High on the walls the names of all the classic composers, whose music has been conducted in the past hundred years that the Concertgebouw existed.
Where classic music loving Amsterdam, the cultural and economic elite of the city would meet to feel slightly superior in this egalitarian country. Now it was the center of homosexual men that dominated the stage, jeans, t-shirts and leather dominated. Handkerchieves betrayed sexual preferences.
A middle-aged woman sang on stage, in a long flowing dress and cotton candy hair, she sang a self-written song in Dutch. The song was addressed to Anita, an orange queen from Florida, who as a newly reborn Christian had gone on a crusade against homosexuals.
As gays would recruit children and young man to join their perverted lifestyle as she put it in an interview. He thought to himself that he had known at age eleven he was gay, no recruiting needed.
He now tried to focus on the singer and her lyrics, when the meaning of the words sank in, he got chills. She was such an unlikely advocate for the gay cause, mainstream popular, she was famous for songs with no significant meaning. But here she sang about gay man to stand up against homophobia and encouraging gay lifestyle. It was the world upside down. He felt emotional.
The concert had been organized in Amsterdam to raise money so they could advertise in the American newspapers their support to the gay community in Florida. They had felt it was important to show solidarity with our gay brothers and sisters on the other side of the Atlantic. You are not standing alone.
The concerts proceeds proved to be enough to advertise and the remaining amount was the starter for what in 1987 would become the homo monument. The first in the world for gay victims, past, present and future.
An excerpt of the 20 minute speaking engagement for @unwantedwordsproject the life story about gay resistance fighter Willem Arondeus and why his story is relevant for the present queer community. #queerness #queer #lgbtq #queerart #gay #gaymen #gayworld #pride #lgbtqia #instagay #nonbinary #queerartist #gayboys #bollywood @pakhuisdezwijger #gayhistory #queerpride #loveislove #gayboy #desi #instadesi #boys #love #amsterdam #desiqueer #desigay #desimen #men #grindrfail #laugh #prideamsterdam
Special Amsterdam Tour offers a two hour LGBT History Tour of historic Amsterdam with many references to the LGBT history of Amsterdam.
