Talk:Coos Huijsen

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Coos (Jacobus) Huijsen (The Hague, 20 March 1939) is a Dutch historian, writer, gay activist and former educator and a former Dutch politician, who was a member of the House of Representatives in 1972–1973 and from 1976 to 1977.

As a member of the House of Representatives in 1976, Huijsen came out as gay, making him the country's first openly LGBT politician and the first known openly gay member of a national legislature in the world.

After leaving parliament, Huijsen worked as a school teacher and director. He also switched parties again, becoming a member of the Dutch Labour Party in which he was active until 2000; he left that party because he found the party put too little work into education and gay emancipation. He then pursued a career as a historian, publishing several books on the Dutch monarchy.

Early years

Coos Huijsen’s life began under difficult circumstances. His parents divorced early and his toddler years were spent during the Second World War. His mother then lived with her parents in Goeree-Overflakkee, part of the Dutch 'Bible belt' and his father (watchmaker and goldsmith) was largely absent. As homes were not made available for single-parent families after the war and because his mother had to take up work where should could find it, mother and son were forced into a more or less wandering existence for years. Between six and twelve years of age, he would attend eight different schools. As a result of his constant moving, Huijsen often felt like an outsider and observer. This was reinforced by the fact that he became aware of his sexuality at an early age. However, he would later say that he learned how to adapt easily during this period and he gained many of the savvy social skills which would later help propel him in politics.

In the post-World War II world in which he grew up, his only option was to camouflage his homosexuality or to be doomed as an outcast. This choice dominated his personal life and also later in his work in education and politics. During his student days - between the ages of 18 and 21 - when he realized that he would always have to hide his sexuality and live in secret, he entered a period of depression and even became suicidal. However, he found an antidote to his despair by becoming politically active.

Social and political involvement

Directly after his teacher training and getting his first position as a teacher in Delft, Huijsen decided to study history. He would later become a history lecturer at the Christian Lyceum Overvoorde in The Hague. During his studies, however, he became a member of the student organization of the Christian Democrats (formally CHU). Tolerance for gays was still not advocated in any relevant political movement or party, so Huijsen chose the CHU as its platform of solidarity and social cohesion appealed to him the most.

Huijsen was also became fascinated by modern literature (James Baldwin) and art films (Visconti) during this time. These artists provided hope for Huijsen that one day the liberation they depicted would become a reality. Later he would say that the spirit of the seventies had kissed him awake. Or rather, a gong sounded that made it clear to him that personal liberty had a legitimate claim in a democratic society and should therefore be a part of political discourse. He realized that a cultural and social climate had developed that would be beneficial for women's and gay emancipation.

Soon after joining, Huijsen became chairman of the Christian Democratic student organization, the CHJO. His clear political outlook, communication skills and humor made him popular and the CHJO made a considerable mark under his leadership. Huijsen argued for political modernization and soon became the exponent of the progressive wing of his party in the turbulent seventies. His party had also aged significantly which meant that the party leadership, despite his outspoken criticisms, supported his efforts. This disturbed the extreme right wing, which sought opportunities to politically eliminate him. They resorted to rumours that Huijsen was gay because he was still unmarried and it evolved into an aggressive and scandalous campaign. Yet in 1972 he was elected a parliamentarian.

Coming out

When, due to a cabinet crisis, he lost his seat and returned to education, he decided to come out of the closet to a small circle of people. He experienced this as an unprecedented liberation. In 1973 he met future husband Lank Bos, who was a physiotherapy student and more than 12 years younger. It was love at first sight and became a defining event in his life. At that point, for Huijsen, it was unacceptable for anyone to deny the love they shared. This relationship and his devotion to Bos would serve as a catalyst for his coming out in his professional life, first as an educator and later as a politician. For Huijsen, gay emancipation was a question of appealing to the humanity of the people around him, and with his coming out at his school, it gave the pupils an opportunity to have a role model who happened to be gay.

Huijsen carried this strategy over to his political life, where role models were also required. Never before had there been someone in the position of power who openly declared their homosexuality. Up to that point, the gay liberation movement had been regulated to fringes of society, which made it easy for the establishment to ignore their voices. As someone in the position of power he would be able to fight to uphold Article 1 of the Constitution which forbids discrimination. Thus in March 1976, when Huijsen returned to being a parliamentarian, he felt the time was ripe for a risky political step, and he officially came out of the closet. This was despite the real possibility that it would hurt his social standing and political career.

Huijsen’s coming out also meant that he broke with the Dutch Reformed Church as the orthodox wing declared opposition to emancipation. He joined Bos with the Remonstrants, a traditionally liberal group. This became the first church in the world to open marriage for partners of the same sex in 1986 and Huijsen was invited to be present when the board of the church made the official decision.

The SVR and a new strategy in the emancipation struggle

Next to being the first parliamentarian in the world to openly express his homosexuality, Huijsen also had a hand in influencing the direction of the gay movement during that time. In the Netherlands, a gay activist organization (COC) had already existed since 1946 and did excellent work for its members. However, Huijsen and a highly successful and powerful businessman Walter Kamp thought it was time for an additional approach, one that was more consciously 'establishment-oriented'. They wanted to appeal to broader audience than the current gay activist movement and to demonstrate that gays also had positions of power and influence in society. As a historian and politician, Huijsen also noticed how much the Dutch establishment was influenced by the spirit of the times – they wished to be viewed as modern and thus were ready to embrace gay liberation. The women's and gay movement had to seize on this sentiment and the SVR or the Stichting Vrije Relatierechten ("Foundation for the Rights of Free Relations") was established (1977-1981). Huijsen became chairman, Kamp the treasurer. The message of the foundation was that gay rights had to be recognized as human rights and gay emancipation should be treated as a political issue. Within a few years, many issues concerning gay liberation were brought under the attention of the government and the political parties.

The Miami Nightmare

In the seventies, Kamp initiated a friendship between a number of gays from Amsterdam and New York. As a result of the mutual support between Amsterdam and New York, the SVR organised a large protest campaign (the ‘Miami Nightmare’) at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 1977. The event was a response to the actions of the American singer and anti-gay activist Anita Bryant. The campaign released a page size advertisement against discrimination against homosexuals in Time magazine in the US with the names of prominent figures from all over Europe. The 'Miami Nightmare' was a spectacular event, in which many popular artists performed, politicians declared their support for gay emancipation and prominent members of the gay community attended. It marked the first time that public opinion had been called upon by such a large-scale gay campaign, and all in the Royal Concertgebouw, the Walhalla of the cultural establishment. Following the event, Huijsen was invited to travel to New York and give a press conference about the campaign at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The Dutch consul general attended to show solidarity. By that time, at the request of the SVR, the Dutch foreign minister Van der Stoel had already recognized gay rights as human rights, making it the first country to do so.

However, as expected, the SVR disbanded after a few years. The initial goals of the organization had been realized – gay rights were finally seen as human rights and emancipation was on the political table. The COC also witnessed the success of the SVR’s approach and began to follow in its footsteps. The individual members of the foundation continued as active members of the parties of their preference and also formed gay groups within these parties.

Human rights: indivisible

Huijsen switched to the Social Democrats after 1977. A proposed campaign by friends to have him elected as a Member of the European Parliament did not appeal to him as the institution hardly had any power at that time. Moreover, he desired to continue his work for gay emancipation. He co-founded and chaired the gay group in his new party as well as chaired or sat on the board of other organizations in Amsterdam which provided support to gays and lesbians. Huijsen’s overarching philosophy was that human rights are indivisible, and thus spent a number of years in the 1980s on the anti-apartheid movement as Chairman of the Defense and Aid Fund Netherlands (DAFN). The organization supported Mandela and raised funds to combat racism in South Africa.

For the greater part of the eighties and nineties Huijsen worked as Director of the Gerrit van der Veen College in Amsterdam. His homosexuality was well known in the institute and he regularly advocated (to his fellow College Directors in Amsterdam) the importance of providing education on homosexuality to the pupils. This was considered a radical idea and was received with opposition – his colleagues felt there was no need for this in the curriculum and even stated that there were no gays or lesbians at their schools. However, Huijsen persisted and was able to introduce special awareness programmes concerning homosexuality at his school.

Historian and Author

Huijsen has never returned to active politics. His Social Democratic party was not entirely concerned with gay issues and, from the beginning of the eighties, he became increasingly interested in the cultural-historical context of democracy – initially focused on the progressive wing of politics. This was the beginning of his career as a historian and author.

• Nog is links niet verloren ("The left is still not lost") was published in 1982 and concerned the growing gap he identified between the progressive establishment which dominated the left parties and the working class. He foresaw serious consequences of this trend which could be dangerous for the future of democratic societies.

• De Oranjemythe. Een postmodern fenomeen ("The Orange Myth. A postmodern phenomenon") in 2001 delved more deeply into the meaning of shared stories for social cohesion in a democracy along with De kroon op de republiek ("The crown on the republic") in 2005, which was written on the occasion of the silver jubilee of Queen Beatrix.

• Nederland en het verhaal van Oranje ("The Netherlands and the story of the House of Orange"), was a doctoral dissertation and dealt with the significance of the Dutch monarchy for the Dutch narrative.

• Ernest Renan. Wat is een natie? ("Ernest Renan. What is a nation?") was written together with the young historian Geerten Waling in 2013 and De geboortepapieren van Nederland ("The Birth papers of the Netherlands") in 2014.

Gay emancipation continued to interest Huijsen, however. He was concerned that, in spite of all the improved laws and regulations, there are still many disturbing symptoms of homophobia, including the increase of aggression on the street. As a result, he and husband Lank, together with friends, established a fund (Het Blauwe Fonds) to support LGBT emancipation. The organisation collects inheritances, donations and legacies for projects in support of the LGBT community and Huijsen was chairman until 2017.

When the COC celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2016, King Willem-Alexander visited the anniversary association at the request of Huijsen. With this he became the first crowned head of state to visit a gay organization.

During his worldwide research into the history of LGBT emancipation, American Professor, Dr. Andrew Reynolds inspired Huijsen to document the history of gay emancipation in the Netherlands, including his own story. This led to Huijsen’s book Homo Politicus ("Gay Politician"). In Dr. Reynolds’ own book, The Children of Harvey Milk (2018), a chapter is dedicated to the significance of Huijsen for gay emancipation under the title: BEING FIRST. The unknown soldier. In 2016, at the presentation of his book Homo Politicus, Mayor Van der Laan and the City of Amsterdam honoured Huijsen with the Frans Banninck Cocq Penning award for his social contributions.

In 2017 he was appointed by the King as Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Explanation of issue: I would like to expand the English page of Mr Huijsen. The information was gathered in interviews with Mr Huijsen and is verifiable and also documented in his autobiography. I tried to add the text earlier, directly on the page, but it was taken down due to COI. I have not however been paid to add this information; I'm only an interested party.

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BenKeaton (talk) 12:14, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Reply 22-JAN-2019

  Edit request declined  

• Much of the information in the request proposal is unreferenced. Please provide additional references from reliable second and third party sources.

Regards,  Spintendo  16:29, 22 January 2019 (UTC)