A company participates in Pride, but its employees don’t know where to report discrimination. Or a foundation advocates for gay rights but opposes migrants. How do you deal with diversity dilemmas involving the queer community? “Numbers don’t tell the whole story; we need to listen more closely to people’s stories,” advise Andrew Shield and Debbie Helaha. By Maurice van Turnhout
Dilemma: De Roze Leeuw Foundation advocates for gay rights but views immigrants as the main cause of anti-gay violence. How can we interpret this?
Andrew Shield: “The rhetoric of De Roze Leeuw is exemplary of ‘homonationalism,’ a term coined within Queer Studies by researcher Jasbir Puar. In the Netherlands, Pim Fortuyn—who was gay himself—was the first major representative of this movement. Homonationalists want to limit immigration because, in their view, immigrants are homophobic, especially if they have an Islamic background.
"But that line of reasoning is flawed, as I argue in my book Immigrants In the Sexual Revolution. Immigrants bring with them a wide range of views, and those views change during their stay in the Netherlands. They usually become more liberal. I can’t provide hard numbers, but Saskia Keuzenkamp conducted research on this topic back in 2010 for the Netherlands Institute for Social Research. That research is still relevant today. In my book, I provide examples of male migrants who, over time, began to think differently about women’s independence and tolerance toward homosexuality.
De Roze Leeuw’s stance has led to conflicts.
Shield: “When the foundation participated in Rotterdam Pride in 2017, the organizers wanted to be as inclusive as possible: they disagreed with De Roze Leeuw’s homonationalism, but defended their right to speak out. Later, Rotterdam Pride adopted a new mission statement that was more anti-racist and pro-transgender. That allowed them to take a stand, which meant De Roze Leeuw no longer fit with the substantive direction of their events. Of course, that continues to be a source of tension. How tolerant should you be toward the intolerant?”
Debbie Helaha: “De Roze Leeuw isn’t just nationalistic; the organization also believes that gay men must conform to a traditional masculine image. They protested in 2023 during the Drag Queen Story Hour, when drag queens were scheduled to read to children during Spring Fever Week, the week dedicated to sex education in elementary schools.”
“At the COC, we believe that, in principle, everyone is welcome to participate, but we draw the line when people start excluding others for reasons that are part of what we’re fighting against, such as racism and toxic masculinity. The COC Leiden facility, COC De Kroon, has certain house rules that we can invoke. These rules state very clearly that, as the COC, we are committed to equal rights, emancipation, and social acceptance of all LGBTI people, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and sex characteristics. “In that vision, there is therefore no room for excluding others in the name of homonationalist ideas.”
It remains a dilemma. “How tolerant should you be toward the intolerant?"
Member of Parliament Ranjith Clemminck, who holds the LGBTI+ rights portfolio at JA21, believes that you can only credibly defend LGBTI+ rights within an anti-immigration party. How do you address that in a political debate?
Shield: “At the very least, be critical of how homonationalist rhetoric relates to the political actions of the party in question. To my knowledge, JA21 has never advocated for the protection of queer asylum seekers. Are they truly committed to gay rights, or are they using homonationalist rhetoric as a stick to beat immigrants with?
“Geert Wilders also pays lip service to gay rights, but the PVV has never put forward any innovative policy proposals in that area. When Article 1 of the Constitution was expanded in 2023 to include ‘sexual orientation’ as a ground for non-discrimination, the PVV even voted against it. And when a bill to criminalize conversion therapy was put to a vote last year, the PVV didn’t show up either.”
Helaha: “In political debate, you must be able to extend a hand and continue to engage respectfully with your opponent. At the same time, you must choose your words carefully and not get swept up in a narrative that exclusively blames homophobia on migrants.”
People sometimes seem to be pretty stuck in their own bubbles.
Helaha: “Through my work as a trainer, I meet a lot of people outside my own progressive bubble. Sometimes I hear people say that during ‘Spring Fever Week,’ they teach young children how to masturbate. Instead of condemning such misinformation outright, I ask where they got that information from and provide them with sources that refute it. After such a conversation, you may still disagree with each other, but you’ve created a safe space for dialogue. Because you’re not attacking people personally, you’re questioning the information systems they’re embedded in.
“In recent years, more and more people in the Netherlands have become familiar with intersectional thinking and have gained a better understanding of the connections between various forms of social injustice and inequality. This also helps you recognize the unique obstacles faced, for example, by trans people within the broader queer community, where they are by no means always welcomed with open arms.
Instead of condemning disinformation, I ask where people get that information from.”
Shield: "The term ‘intersectionality’ originated from criticism of a company that did not hire Black women and has been used in various ways over the past ten years. The core idea is that discrimination can occur along multiple axes, such as gender and class. This also acknowledges discrimination within oppressed groups, which arises, for example, from the dominance of men in African American movements or the dominance of white people in feminist movements. In my book Immigrants on Grindr , I apply the concept of intersectionality to the online culture of the socio-sexual networking app Grindr, where immigrants often face sexual racism.”
What improvements can be made to Dutch diversity policy by paying closer attention to such diversity dilemmas?
Shield: “Above all, I think policymakers need to listen more to people from civil society, who hear firsthand accounts of diversity dilemmas. If you want to develop housing policies for queer asylum seekers, it’s easy to gather quantitative data: how many queer asylum seekers are there, and what percentage of them complain about their housing? But qualitative data can teach us much more. The story of a single queer migrant can sometimes offer more insight than a statistic.
“More consultation with groups like Queer To Support, Stichting Love Planet, Rainbow Anonymous, and Vluchtelingenwerk would help. They do the groundwork and can assist with questions such as: Should queer migrants be housed with people from their country of origin, or do they need their own housing projects? Does their queer identity give them priority for a home in a major city rather than in a rural area?”
What is the current situation regarding the reception of queer migrants?
Shield: “Legislation enacted between 1981 and 1986 led the Netherlands to begin accepting LGBTI+ asylum seekers. But there is a deliberate vagueness built into the legislation, so that officials can always find a way around it. In the 2010s, there were fears in the Netherlands of fraud in the asylum procedures, which led to greater skepticism toward the stories of queer migrants. In hindsight, it became clear that the officials responsible for assessing asylum applications often have a limited understanding of how diverse queer narratives can be. For example, they automatically assumed that all queer migrants struggle with some form of shame.”
Are companies making good progress on diversity, despite the anti-woke sentiment that’s sweeping the country?
Helaha: “Diversity policies are under scrutiny, especially now that there’s a global right-wing populist backlash. People want to know what such policies actually achieve. A McKinsey report circulated in 2015 about the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace: for example, it would lead to a more creative team, and thus higher revenue. Wonderful, of course, but it’s framed very strongly from a financial perspective. There are also organizations that have their employees fill out employee satisfaction surveys, with questions such as: Do you ever experience discrimination, and if so, do you know where to turn within the organization? If 90% of such an organization says it doesn't know, you know there's still plenty of work to be done.”
There is a certain vagueness deliberately built into the legislation.”
Debbie Helaha is the Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator at Leiden University of Applied Sciences and served as chair of COC Leiden for six years. Through photography, training sessions, and music, she aims to share stories and experiences to break down stereotypes and prejudices.
Andrew Shield is an assistant professor of economic and social history at Leiden University, specializing in the history of migration, sexuality, race, and diversity in Europe. He is affiliated with the interdisciplinary research project Citizenship, Migration & Global Transformation and serves as chair of the LGBT+ Network in Leiden.
The white paper Dilemmas of Diversity – Diversity Policy and Practice contains eight dialogues between sixteen experts from academia, government and civil society organisations on current issues. The publication is intended for policymakers, administrators, professionals and anyone working on inclusive public services and social participation.
The publication (written in Dutch) is available for download via this link. Would you like to receive a printed copy of the white paper? Send an email to Katja Hoiting from Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities alliance: k.hoiting@tudelft.nl.
