The Netherlands aren’t so gay these days. The European nation, which has a long history of gay-friendly policy, has been rocked by a rise of homophobic attacks.
As Radio Netherlands reports:
In the first half of this year a special phone line received 17 reported cases, a higher figure than for the whole of 2006. It is possible that the number of reports has also increased as awareness of the phone line has grown, but Elly Lust of the Amsterdam police thinks there is more to it than this alone: “For a long time Amsterdam has been the ‘gay capital of the world’, but now that seems to be changing. And of course, it’s something we don’t want to happen.”
The anti-gay trend led gay group COC to suggest startling segregation legislation. Their hair brained scheme, however, takes on racialist tones when you consider that the majority of anti-gay attackers are Moroccan. Why, then, after decades of living peacefully together, have some Moroccans and homos started butting heads?
Gay author Rauf Moussad provides one explanation. He tells RN that many Moroccans feel the brunt of anti-Islamic sentiments, which have been on the rise since controversial politico Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who rallied against Islam’s morality-based legal system. Moussad explains:
They speak Dutch and they’re getting qualifications, but they aren’t part of Dutch society. Yes, with all due respect, they get jobs at supermarket checkouts. But the media is white and all the other prestigious professions are dominated by people with an ethnic Dutch background.
While a reaction against perceived white oppression certainly makes sense, anti-gay Moroccans have also been taking their toll on their “ethnic” peers. RN’s Nicolien den Boer paraphrases:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
The young people also develop feelings of hatred towards the society which is excluding them, and hence towards all its typical values, such as tolerance of homosexuality. The increase in attacks on Arab homosexuals is easily explained, says Mr Moussad. They represent these Western values. Furthermore, they are defenceless. They keep their sexual orientation hidden from their families, so they are unlikely to report an assault to the police.
Hopefully some of this will change when Amsterdam hosts August 4th’s gay pride parade, during which the gay cop brigade will be keeping order.
The brigade’s queer code name? “Pink in blue”.
Tallskin
This is PC nonsense and is just making excuses for queerbashers.
Artyfarty
Not the Devil, but “Hirsi Ali made me do it!” – Rauf Moussad is willfully confusing cause and effect here, I think.
Sad to see that, as an intellectual, he is following the usual Muslim/Leftist tactic of blaming problems of Islamic cultures on those outside it, never accepting their own
responsibility. His remarks make the usual appeal to the reflex of self-hate of “evil colonialist racist” Liberal Western societies, who can easily be made to feel guilty about anything.
Maybe those kids at the supermarket just didn’t finish school. Their segregated upbringing (secured and encouraged by Multiculturalism) didn’t prepare them for life in modern society, but instead indoctrinated them to view the Dutch as enemies. Self-exclusion better describes their situation than victimhood. From their moralistic high grounds, they are now pressuring gays into a Middle-Eastern concept of manhood, where homosexuality is an act (widespread, secret, handy), but not an identity. It’s been observed that the same boys who beat up gays often secretly dive into the gay scene for quick anonymous sexual relief, or even prostitute themselves. (When they pay you, it makes you even less gay, right.)
The Netherlands is (still) the most tolerant country in the world, many non-Muslim ethnic groups live together without such large problems, to call it racist is trying to detract. Like Israel, the Netherlands shelters many gay refugees from Muslim countries. Why it thinks it should invite or tolerate so many people who hate the place so deeply I don’t get. Post-colonial guilt/confusion?
Historian Efraim Karsh wrote (in “Islamic Imperialism”) that Muslim societies’ problems can only be started to be addressed when their own inner dynamics are looked at more closely, instead of assuming everything is the result of the West’s actions. While blaming the West might seem a good quick way to protect Muslims from criticism, it actually belittles them by not taking their societies and politics seriously.
Sorry for the long post!
We need more solidarity with Muslim gays (and woman). I made art shows about fundamentalism VS. Dutch libertinism and wrote more about it here: http://www.tulip-enterprises.de/diary_main_2007_03_30.htm
asid100
Thank you, Artyfarty.
In Queerty’s own July 27 item, “God Made Me Kill The Gay, Says Murder Suspect,” the writer quotes the self-righteous killer and then comments, “Excuse us while we vomit.”
Islamic men attack gay men and because they’re Moroccan they’re offered excuses that they haven’t even asked for. They attack and kill gay men because of their religion. It isn’t a matter of race. They are morally responsible beings, capable of making other choices. Why would the GLBT community make excuses for fascists?
Excuse me while I vomit.
Oscar
Be careful with OhLalal Guys site.Many of the guys there are from Muslim countries and I think they sign there to see if they can get somebody in the closet and blackmail him. Homosexuality is prohibited in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, etc… so it is very suspicious that muslim guys are signing in gay sites. They are there to no good. Be very carefulif you write to any of them. Everybody is warned.
hisurfer
Just for comparison, here are the FBI hate crime statistics for the US (2005):
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2005/index.html
Christian
Ayaan Hirsi Ali had nothing to do with the world wide uprise of islamic terrorism. The aggressiveness of mostly moroccan youths does have everything to do with islamic terrorism and absolutely nothing with discrimination. The attacks on homosexuals by moroccan youths in Amsterdam have but one real explanation: the homosexual is rather defenceless against a group of moroccans. The bad feelings moroccans feel against themselves they engendered themselves by acts like this. That moroccans have the guts to protest against a glas of wine on the table, against christmas trees, does not make them popular either. If they feel despised, they did it all themselves.
Mario
It’s America’s fault!! Haha! J/K. But seriously. Europe is not tolerant, it’s just indifferent, suffering from chronic apathy living under a system of power from the top down rather than the bottom up as it is in the Great Satan. In Europe, you can allocate gay rights and you’d get the same reaction if you rounded up gays and stuck them in death camps—with a big who gives a shit shrug.