Gay (or not) and coming to Amsterdam? Cancel NOW!

Why does religion get away with fascism in the Netherlands?

Before you read this, ask yourself:

Would you plan a vacation to a country where Apartheid is still going strong and people of African descent are not allowed in the same places you are? Or would you go on a romantic weekend away with your wife to a country where women are not allowed to vote and cannot hold any important position in the government? Or would you travel to a country where people can be refused to hold a certain job because of their sexual preference and where kids can be kicked out of school because of the same.

If you are a rational, somewhat normal person like me, I assume you would answer NO to each of these questions. Well, realize that if this is the case, and you were planning to come the Netherlands. Cancel your trip. Make other plans.

The Law, christian public schools, gay teachers, gay students. A fun combo.

Dutch law allows religious educational organizations to not hire or fire teachers because of the single fact that they are gay*1. Personally I have a bit of a hard time understanding gay christians, or why gay people would want to work in schools where they teach from a book that says it’s ok to kill them, but let’s be honest; it’s just wrong! But what is much worse, these same organizations have the ability to dismiss students based on the single fact that they are gay or bisexual. So you are 15, you are completely struggling with your sexuality, you live in an christian region, you attend a christian school and wham ; here’s another problem for ya!

The situation has been like this for years but on 8 feb 2010 (edit- postponed!) the Dutch government is going to discuss these laws and it is unlikely that things will change. The organization Expreszo (a Dutch publisher of a magazine for young gay or bi-sexual people) have called upon their readers to call in sick and go to the Dutch governmental capital tomorrow to demonstrate against this. I hope straight students join this call, that the classrooms are empty and that the streets are full.I am disgusted by this situation. It makes me sick to realize that this is happening in my great country. Religious fascists have been getting away with this for too long already.So, if you are planning to come to the Netherlands wait until this crazy laws are changed. It does not matter if you are gay, bi or straight. Just don’t come over.

Thanks.

Vincent / Visit my blog too

*1 ; it’s very complex. Different people have different interpretations of whether this is really the case. The fact is, that in practice it happens.

More information (Just in case you are interested) :

If you read this and you know me a little you know that i am against religions. But more importantly I am against racism and discrimination. And I am for equal and human rights. In all honestly it's because of this why I am against religions. To my opinion religions are responsible for racism, discrimination and inequality. But that's a different post.

I have always been very proud of how progressive and intelligent most of my fellow Dutchmen and Governments have been. But i am sorry to say i am not that proud any more. In spite of our liberal (in a non-US sort of way) and intelligent image the Netherlands actually have laws in place that are fascistic and inhumane. Laws that you would sooner expect in backward countries.

The Dutch constitution*2 (the boring part)

I am definitely not going to bore anyone with a lang slab of text about our constitution (Grondwet) and the rights of all Dutch people (grondrechten). But a little background is needed. Hope you can stay with me here.

>> Artikel 1 of the Dutch Constitution (Nederlandse Grondwet) basically says this : All who are in The Netherlands, will be treated equally in equal circumstances. Discrimination because of religion, worldviews, politics, race, gender or on any grounds what so ever, is not permitted. (For the record; this is my own translation and I believe it to be correct).

I am guessing it is pretty important article since it is the first one of 8 chapters of 142 articles and some additional stuff.

The 1994 Law of equal treatment (Algemene wet gelijke behandeling – AWGB) is based on this 1st Article. This law goes a few steps further and strengthens the article. It adds nationality, sexuality (sexual preference) and marital status to the list. It also clarifies that the situations where this equality is most important are employment, housing, services, healthcare, recreation and education. The law does leave room for positive discrimination for the obvious reasons such as the elimination of inequality in certain, for instance, employment situations. But that is not relevant for this post.

Exceptions to the law rule!

You would say that this is perfect. We’re done. Leave it like that. Move on to other articles, make some new laws. But now comes the freaky bit. The Dutch have complicated things enormously by inserting a set of…. Exceptions! Yes people. The Dutch have managed to reduce a perfect constitutional gem like the first article to a contradictory monster that gets us into trouble every time! And guess who is benefitting from this debacle? Right ; Religious idiots!

The 3 basic exceptions are :

Political organizations can demand that the people they employ share the political view of the organization.

Religious and/or ideological and/or philosophical organizations can demand that he people they employ share the religious, ideological and philosophical view of the organization.

Special education. Religious and/or ideological and/or philosophical educational organizations can demand that he people that are employed or that attend the educational organization share the religious, ideological and philosophical view of the educational organization.

For the record. By special education we mean religious schools. And by religious schools we mean PUBLIC religious schools. These schools are fully funded by tax-euro’s.

The situation is extremely complicated because there are different ways to interpret the combination of the 1st Article, the Law and the exceptions. For me it’s pretty simple, but as there is reason for this post, it’s easy to see that the Dutch are not unified on this topic.

*2 I am not a lawyer, nor do I pretend to know everything about the Dutch constitution or laws. This is my view and if you think I am basing this view on the wrong information or or a wrong interpretation of correct information let me know.