translated from a Nico Dijkshoorn column
My children are on a state funded public school. But lately I start to worry. One of the teachers is starting to show suspiciously christian behaviour! The way he was looking at a painting the other day: typically Christian! Just checking if God was present on it. I also find his speech more and more christian: Too polite! Too much that tone men use on sunday afternoons when they wash the family car. I cannot but conclude: hidden christian pose.


I feel awkward with that. I do not want my children to be secretely influenced and adapt to christian normes and values. A teacher who is christian, don´t get me wrong, nothing against them: everybody is free to be who they are. Personally I think god is a piece of ham with arms and legs. I won´t bother you with that. This teacher also looks quite normal: he does not go to school dressed in a loincloth or with a shroud loosely draped over his shoulder. I´ve never caught him trying to change water into wine in lab class. The way he behaves in front of the class he could just as well be a normal homosexual or atheist. But I´m afraid he sneekily tries to convert my kids!

I feel awkward about this: it´s in his nature, they cannot change that. Their brains just are corrupted, of that I´m convinced. Just like christians are afraid that gay teachers will turn their kids into songfestival adoration, these guys on public schools cannot keep themselves from converting, however much they try to hide it! In the end they will show inappropriate chistian behavior. They´re raised that way, there you go!


Who guarantees my child will not start to build a Noahs ark in the back yard when he comes home from school? This summer I already caught him trying to walk on the water of our inflatable pool in the garden. Indeed directly after that excursion with the christian teacher. Now he´s locked himself in his room with a bunch of roses around his head, constructing something of wood beams.
Luckily I have de Raad van Staten (dutch supreme court) on my side: They advised the gouvernement as follows: It must remain possible to get rid of gay practicing teachers on fundamental schools! Surely that also good for practicing chriiiistian teachers at public schools ! comment?

Straight after den Haag started its pride month my hometown Delft celebrates 40 years of queer cult(ure). An excellent chance to check if it is,
as often in its history, a beyond-shame front-runner or still truly deserving
the media prize as most homo un-friendly town in the Netherlands:


I had first intended not to attend the lustrum celebration of DWH, since it is very much away from representing anything I stand for and betrays its own legacy these days: it now denies hospitality and respect to part of the community that founded the center, or ties hospitality to so many preconditions that this community rather politely declines. It is the same as saying: we welcome all blacks as long as they paint their faces white. Or the Christen Unie that says: we don't deny homosexuals to teach at our schools, only the ones who practice it. I find this even more atrocious when this happens within a group that should know what it is to be a minority. It's even more deeply regrettable because it only shows self-hate and self-denial instead of pride: I cannot be part of a club that like the CU says: you can be homosexual here, but you cannot practice it, the way you want.

Sexual practices were part of our world in the days of the 'huiskamerbijeenkomsten', they were part of the experience on the balconies at the "trefcentrum", despite the fact that it was not our own venue, they were part of their current place for over ten years but sadly are now exiled. Why can we not celebrate life, our own kind of life, or at least the life of some parts of our community? Why is nudity allowed, by law, in public areas like Ruyven Delftse Hout, Wilhelminapark and not in our own club ? I call that sad!
Luckily there are some places in the 2 neighbour cities that do continue to uphold our hospitality and our name as gay tolerant tourist attraction.

Though disappointed to find so few friends or allies in the local club, where it seems our worst enemies have won the battle for normalcy and prudency, I will not have history nor dignity stolen from me, and find solace in the knowledge that I'm not the only prophet to be dispised in his home town. So I'll keep my head up and since Hermien, Peter v B. Piet vd P. even the national COC chairman have urged me to attend, I've changed my mind: I'm there, be it in mourning-black. Piet, the presenter, even wanted me to sing and show historic videos, I even made a dwh top 15 of all time vidclip dvd, but in view of the situation, that does not sound too appropriate! Instead I just drop the poem by Christophe Vekeman that I was considering to recite right here :


we waren:

We schenen, we leken, we bleken, we waren
We weenden, we lachten, we dachten, we staarden
We wachtten, we keken, we hadden de tijd
We zwegen, we rookten, we kookten van geilheid

We dronken, we zopen, we zongen, we deden
We schonken, we klonken, we liepen, we reden
We riepen, we sliepen, we lagen in bed
We spraken, we blaakten, we hadden veel pret

We rustten, we vierden, we kusten, we pisten
We brulden, we gierden, we lulden, we wisten
We konden, we wonnen, we stonden perplex
We likten onze wonden, ja we hadden goeie seks

We trokken, we duwden, we drongen, we raasden
We lokten, we stuwden, we gokten, we aasden
We vingen, we hingen, we speelden het grof
We waren de waarheid, we deden alsof

We trilden, we rilden, we stegen, we daalden
We gilden, we vilden, we kregen, we stalen
We wilden, we baarden, we waren barbaars
We spaarden elkaar niet, ik zat in je
aars

We hijgden, we roofden, we zogen, we snoven
We neigden, we voosden, we kozen, we loofden
We geloofden in god en we waren hem dankbaar
We lagen beiden boven en stoofden tegelijk gaar

We raakten, we staakten, we mikten, we wikten
We waakten, we slaakten, we slikten, we pikten
We maakten elkaar het leven zo zoet
We deden ons best en dat deden we goed

We lukten, we rukten, we beefden, we kwamen
We drukten, we fuckten, we leefden, we namen
Wij samen, we hadden altijd onze zin
Ik was royalist en jij mijn koningin

we schenen we leken we bleken we waren
we weenden we lachten we dachten we staarden
we wachtten we dachten we kenden geen spijt

we werden
we bleven
we zijn

voor altijd . . .

and if anybody still dares to say we should bend for market strategy, religious sensitivities and normality:
this poet is heterosexual,
and it was broadcast on dutch public tv, just after sesame street.
and as far as the lustrum is concerned: Granted, I may be a difficult person, but I've never been intolerant, especially to my own kind: never denied any group in our community their silly games, even if they were intolerably directed at hurting others, nor did I ever demand assurances to comply with unacceptable conditions, although I was tempted in cases of the dykes and nerdy self-denying infantile students. I've also often been accused of being a solist, That indeed may be so in this case, through sad lack of others who will stand up or see possibilities for change. Others who may know me from other functions I fulfilled over the past 3 decades at dwh end elsewhere sofar, will attest to the fact I can be un devoted loyal teamplayer.
And to close the discussion once and for all, here are 4 more clips from the archives:




comment?

apologetic ashamed conditional DOM [ meaning Stupid Dirty Old Men ]

Grumpy Faggots, once they're angry, they're beyond control
and they are not likely to take anything (verbal, legal) laying down !
And so today, 3 days prior to the DOK exhib opening
the grumpy machinegun on our own history in Delft opens fire:

The young generation does not want to be proud; they want to be normal! NOT US old Farts; we've reconciled ourselves with the concept of being perverts, dirty old men, degenerates, sick, obscene, smelly, gross, hedonistic, etc. With Hermien, at his book presentation at Laurenskerk Rotterdam I say: I have nothing to confess or come clean about; nothing to be ashamed about, or it would be things like love handles . . . too much cake, cheese, alcohol, maybe? But surely no excuse for the fact that I'm a pervy difficult person:
I may wish I could be more easy going, but sadly this is an hereditory family trait (from my mother's side, I might add) So, no appologies, and hardly regrets; I may drive hard bargains, but I do recognise we are a minority in a democracy, and do not reject compromise. I do however reject unconditional surrender to infringement of freedom and, contrary to what some accuse me of: not just my own freedom.


So I say to the DWH: "why act like the Chinese?" What is the problem with vibrant discussion? Is a dangerously clever and agile opposition not THE sign and a guarantee for good decision making? Do you really like the Northern Korea approach? Is it gay self denial, SM or do you just prefer to bend over and spread 'm in praise the wisdom of your great leadership ? Why is it ok to drink yourself to death at LG 22 as succesfully do 100.000 people a year in NL, you can again smoke yourself to death at LG 22 as half a million in NL sucessfully do, but not fuck yourself to death ? Less then 700 succeed in that yearly in NL.
(of course I'm not saying that anybody planned to do that, or should, but some people just cannot read, or very much want to mis-read my cynisism. Maybe I should have written 'celebrate life' instead of 'fuckin', as not only depicting, but even writing about the essentials of our existance, is too much of a hot potatoe in some places. Why should I start to comprimise, even in my vocabulary, if nobody else does, and I also wonder why this lustrum and reunion is organised, if nobody there really wants to celebrate all of our history).

Don't we remember from our renowned coffeeshops that tolerance works better then prohibition? It looks ever more like the hypocricy of movies, tv or open internet in the US of A: Violence, guns, even directed at schoolkids, thats fine, but frontal nudity is corrupting ? How sick can you get?
I say: The general feeling in the Netherlands that Delft is the homo-un-friendliest city of the country is not coming from our street experiences [and you may know I had me some], but far more hurtfull and permanently irrepairibly damaging is the paralizing initiative-killing atmosphere that is bread inside this building by a self confirming in-breeding board! Well, they got what they wanted; in effectively putting all creative opposition outsiTe.

Now we just have to wait for a dangerously long time for lack of opposition to do its unavoidable damage. After years of rot from the insiTe the now appearantly inpenetrable bark will collapse. It's the same saying, we vintage homos from before the hiv era were tought: too much sealing and hygene that is what corrupts the immune system more then anything.
comment?