World Wide Wave

18 Feb 2013

The Netherlands: Multiculturalism challenges liberal standards

Europe

“We have the most liberal standards in the world,” proclaims Nico Schermers, Deputy Head of Mission at the Royal Dutch Embassy in Canberra. “Our government has just taken a number of measures because we feel that the rights are in place, but people are not always taking them for granted and therefore discrimination is still taking place.”

Elco, a gay resident of the Netherlands, also feels there is room for improvement in The Netherlands, long a gay Mecca: “Amsterdam has long lost the title of being the gay capital of Europe. That’s gone to Berlin.” Elco contends that recent immigrants are bringing homophobia:

“A lot of the multicultural aspects of Dutch society, we treasure, however, that entire train of thought will go amiss when you get groups that refuse to integrate…and try to bring in very stringently their culture…that’s what’s going on in Islamic groups at the moment.”

Join the debate on W3JOY’s The Netherlands webpage.

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