LGBT in the Netherlands 〜Islamic influence on tolerance~
Netherlands-which has “tolerant” images have ever accepted modern values such as equality of sex, human rights and freedom. They firstly legalized the use of soft drugs, euthanasia, the same sex marriage in their history and made a big impact on the global society. In addition, they also have adopted tolerant immigrant policies which promoted the immigration of Islamic people from Turkey and Morocco to the large cities in the Netherlands. This “tolerance” originated from the persecutions of Jewish people during World WarⅡ. Not only Jewish but also gay lesbians and other minorities were also sent into the concentration camp. Through looking the history of the persecution of Nazis directly, people in Holland has been proud of their policy towards minority.
However, this “tolerant” atmosphere has not been inconsistent in recent Netherlands. After the murder case of the movie director who was making the film against Islam in 2004, criticism against Muslims have been increasing. Before 1990, there was no big political parties which insisted on the exclusion of Muslims. This stream has changed after this case, September 11 attacks, and another murder case of Pim Fortuyn ( politician, openly gay, insisted on the halt of Islamic immigration) by environment activist.
After the 9,11 in the US, conservative political parties have been emerging in European nations. For example, Golden Dawn in Greece, Danish People’s party in Denmark, National Party in Spain, were starting to announce the radical policies such as exclusion of all immigrants from other countries and superiority of their own race. Netherlands is not exception. In 2010, Party for Freedom in Netherlands won 24 seats in national congress and made it third party. They were trying to pass the taxation on the Islamic scarfs. The final purpose of this party is the halt of immigration from people in Islamic countries.
The biggest issue in the Netherlands is “tolerance to every culture” which Dutch people are proud of has been inconsistent in recent years. In Dutch culture, people are given the rights to what kind of lives they choose. This means, public authority should not interfere with people’s personal lives. Thus, they invented the system of “same sex marriage” towards LGBT and admitted the human rights of sexual minority faster than any other countries.
Education system well reflects this point. In Netherlands, the government is running religious school such as catholic, Jewish, Islamic etc. But it does not mean people who believe in Islam have to choose Islamic school. However, as a result of this system, isolation of “white school” and “black school” occurred. Native Dutch students gathered in White school and non Dutch students ( who have immigrant background) gathered in Black school. These names are also used in the public organization. Although it appears apartheid in South Africa, they have admitted rights to vote for non-Dutch people and world-class public welfare. This means whilie Dutch people are proud of “tolerance” to other minorities, they have a strong “liberalism” which means the rights to protect their own cultures and society. So that Islamic dogma which regards homosexuality as a sin becomes controversy.
Because of this cultural atmosphere, the political parties which insist on “people should not be interfered with by anyone” have been emerging. The reason why Party for Freedom criticized the Muslims is that they think the increase of numbers of people which have totally “different” culture will be a menace to the right “people should not be interfered with by anyone”.
