The Netherlands issued its first ever gender-neutral passport. On Friday 57-year-old Leonne Zeegers from Breda, who as an intersex person does not identify as a man or a woman, received a passport with an 'X', instead of an 'M' for male or 'V' for female, NU.nl reports.
Zeegers won the right to a gender neutral passport in a lawsuit. In May the court ruled that the fact Zeegers can not register as gender neutral is "a violation of private life, self-determination and personal autonomy".
Dutch people's opinions bout lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are increasingly positive, social and cultural planning office SCP said in a new report published on Thursday. Despite this many Dutch still have problems with seeing same-sex couples kissing, Het Parool and NOS report.
The Netherlands dropped out of the top 10 European countries with the best regulated LGBTI rights. The Netherlands is now in 11th place on the Rainbow Index published on Monday, Het Parool reports.
The Rainbow Index is published by European organization ILGA, which stands up for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersexual people. ILGA calls this a wake-up call for the Netherlands. "A country like the Netherlands, which was always seen as progressive, is no longer among the front runners", director Evelyne Paradis said, according to the newspaper.
Two gay men were attacked in Dordrecht over the weekend shortly after meeting someone on a date made on dating app Grindr. One victim had to go to hospital for treatment. The second managed to flee before being injured. The police believe the men may have been attacked due to their sexual orientation and are investigating whether the two incidents are connected.
The fact that clothing brand Suitsupply's new ad posters showing two men being affectionate are being vandalized across the Netherlands, shows that LGBT emancipation still has a long way to go, according to LGTB organizations COC and Pride Amsterdam.
Between 1950 and 1958 Amsterdam rejected 225 applicants because of their homosexuality, Trouw reports based on lists from the Dutch capital's archive. Gay interest group COC wants a new investigation into how the government treated gay people, a spokesperson said to Het Parool.
Amsterdam PvdA politician Munire Manisa was flooded with negative reactions when she took a position on the board of LGBT interest association COC last week. She was accused of being a traitor, a bad Muslim and that her DNA was infected by unbelievers. "I did not want to pay attention to it, but apparently people think that I'm silent because I accept these cowardly accusations", she wrote in response on Facebook.
A stabbing incident that led to the death of a 33-year-old Eastern European man in Amsterdam's Oosterpark on Friday, has led to more attention for muggings in this known meeting place for gay men. According to Ellie Lust of the Amsterdam police's LGBT team, there have been a series of incidents in the park in recent months, Het Parool reports.
Penalties facing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Morocco are leading to an increase in LGBT asylum requests in the Netherlands. Today two girls age 16 and 17 are in court n Marrakesh for a kiss and cuddle in public, AD reports.
"There are more and more requests from LGBT people from Morocco who ended up in trouble, Sandro Kortekaas, president of Asylum Support, said to the newspaper. Asylum Support is a volunteer organization that supports foreign LGBT people apply for asylum in the Netherlands.
A number of Amsterdam organizations decided to actively spread the message that “diversity makes us human”. The organizations call on everyone to discuss the message at work, school, church and anywhere else they are with other people. The message can also be spread on social media using the hashtag #020diversity, the Telegraaf reports.
A homophobic flyer left in post boxes in Amsterdam-West and Nieuw West on Sunday caused quite an uproar in the Dutch capital. The police are investigating the origin of this anti-gay flyer.
The 21st edition of Amsterdam's Canal Parade on Saturday drew just as many visitors as last year, when a record number of people came to watch the parade. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded to the Dutch capital, despite the extra security measures taken due to the terrorism threat
LGTB interest group COC is shocked and dismayed that "gay hater" Steen was allowed to play at Utrecht's Liberation Day festival on Thursday. The group is demanding an explanation and apology from the organization
Gay interest group COC is furious at the Dutch Jehovah's Witnesses community about a children's video placed on their site explaining why marriage should be between a man and a woman. The organization is calling for the video to be removed
The Netherlands should issue travel advice warning gay and transgender people to be careful when visiting certain states in America, according to Dutch LGBT organizations.
Friday is the 15th anniversary of the first legal same-sex marriage in Amsterdam and the capital is celebrating by painting the I Amsterdam sign in rainbow colors.
A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch Parliaments, supports the idea of separate shelter for threatened LGBT asylum seekers, parliamentarians from ruling parties PvdA and VVD said in Nieuwsuur on Monday night.
In the future asylum seekers should not be sheltered in a large tent camp such as the Heumensoord camp in Nijmegen, according to the Board for the protection of Human Rights and the National Ombudsman. The massive tent camp with nearly 3 thousand residents has too little privacy, meaningful activities and living expenses, which is harmful to the asylum seekers health and safety, the two institutions concluded in a report following a visit to the camp
At least two of the LGBT asylum seekers being harassed in the Heumensoord asylum camp in Nijmegen, are now also being threatened with death, the interest group for gay people COC Nijmegen announced on Monday.
The harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender asylum seekers in the asylum centers is out of control, according to the COC, the interest group for gay people. "If something is not done quickly for gays in the asylum centers, there will be deaths", Janneke van Maanen of COC Midden Gelderland said
A Dutch court convicted former Amsterdam politician Delano Felter for comments he made in 2010 against homosexuals. He was fined one thousand euros by the court, which conditionally suspended half the amount for two years.
The Ministry of Education is launching an initiative in which all asylum seekers in all asylum centers in the Netherlands will be taught about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. The same information material that is used in schools will also be used for this
Gay asylum seekers are routinely harassed in the Heumensoord asylum camp in Nijmegen, gay interest group COC said to De Gelderlander. According to the group, the gay men's beds get soaked or smeared with food and excrement and their clothes are routinely stolen or set on fire.
Amsterdam decided to give lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender refugees shelter separate from the other asylum seekers following a number of threats and other incidents, Het Parool reported on Friday.
