You ever hear of the Nashville Statement? Basically an American Evangelical Christian document where those who sign it declare what they do and do not consider appropriate gender and sexual roles according to their interpretation of the Bible. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, this means denial of homosexuality and being transgender as acceptable.
Well, somebody had the bright idea to translate this document in Dutch, and it's been disappointingly popular among orthodox protestant groups here. The list of those who signed so far was briefly available yesterday, but has since been removed (gosh, wonder why!). Mainly preachers and vicars, as expected, but also a number of university professors... and the leader of the Political Reformed Party, Kees van der Staaij. Not shocking, considering it's the SGP and van der Staaij also voted against gay marriage back in 2001, but still-- scary that he's still in congress after all this time.
It's a somewhat sobering reminder that even in a country often characterized as predominantly progressive, hate is alive and well, just waiting to resurface at any time. The upside is that the rest of Dutch society has made it abundantly clear they do not approve of this. The SGP politicians are being rightly vilified for this, the university where several of the instructors who signed are employed raised a rainbow flag in support for the community, several major media outlets didn't shy away from calling the pamphlet extremist and an appalling display... The battle is far from over, but I have faith it'll keep going in the right direction.
"Have you ever had a dream that you thought was impossible to achieve? Well, some people say nothing is impossible. But I do nothing every day! So you can definitely do it."
--Tofu the dog's infinite wisdom
"British English is easy! Just use an 's' instead of a 'z' and replace 'or' with 'our' and you're dandy." "Do you want pissa our noodles for dinner?" "u better not piss in r noodles m8"
--Classic exchange between Popeychops and John the Late