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Jul 17 min read

A Marriage of Convenience: The Dutch Far-Right’s Love Affair with the LGBTQ+ Community



 

The Dutch Far-Right’s Love Affair with the LGBTQ+ Community 

 

From Zero to Hero: LGBTQ+ Identities Under a Homonationalist Agenda 

 

Acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities has long been higher in Western Europe than in other parts of the continent. So it makes sense that the Populist Radical Right (PRR) in some of these countries have also embraced queer rights. In doing so, they have bucked the trend of ‘political homophobia’ pursued by their Central and Eastern European counterparts. Rather than defamation and persecution, these parties often use outlandish populist rhetoric to defend rather than attack sexual minorities. (Gender diversity is another matter, but we'll come to this.) 

 

These parties claim to defend queer people from the threat of immigrant populations. However, it is predominantly Muslims who are perceived as the greatest threat to national identity and security. The far-right homogeneously typecast Islam as culturally backward, intolerant, and religiously at odds with Europe’s Christian values. By contrast, LGBTQ+ populations are recast as representing the ‘civilised’ nation-state.  

  

In her groundbreaking book, Terrorist Assemblages (2007), Jasbir Puar explained this phenomenon as homonationalism. While Puar largely focused on America’s post-9/11 context, many have since applied it to describe the radical right’s outlying approach towards LGBTQ+ rights in Western Europe. 

 

The cynic (and why wouldn’t you be?) might suggest it’s a simple case of if you can’t beat them join them; a way for parties with extremist views to look moderate amongst socially liberal voters. This may well be the case with some PRR parties that have dabbled - albeit with some ambivalence - in supporting LGBTQ+ rights, such as France’s National Rally or Sweden’s Social Democrats.  

 

Yet in the Netherlands, where sexual and gender minorities have long enjoyed some of the highest rates of progressive legislation in the world, the PRR’s support of LGBTQ+ rights has appeared more authentic and earnest.

Even if that support is still ethically dubious. Three of the Netherlands' most infamous personalities provide useful starting points for exploring the motivations lying behind the Dutch radical right’s defence of LGBTQ+ populations, while at the same time exposing the limits of their support. 

 

Game-Changer: Pim Fortuyn and the Dutch Political Landscape 

 

Perhaps the most well-known and arguably morally complex is the academic-turned-politician, Pim Fortuyn, who set up his party List Pim Fortuyn (LPF) in 2002, just months ahead of national elections that same year. Media savvy, sharply dressed and charismatic, Fortuyn electrified the usually staid Dutch elections, running an overtly anti-immigrant and Islamophobic campaign which had been completely beyond the pale in traditionally liberal Dutch politics before this time. Fortuyn’s candour shocked the political establishment to its core. He also dominated media headlines with one unapologetic quip after another, extolling the ‘backwardness’ of Islam and claiming the country was ‘full’. So far, so very hard-right. 

 

Yet Fortuyn never accepted the far-right label and forcefully rejected the notion that he was the Netherlands’ answer to France’s Jean-Marie Le Pen, who held brazenly anti-Semitic, racist, and homophobic views. Not least because Fortuyn was himself openly gay. Much has been made of how his sexuality informed his politics, with Fortuyn arguing that Islam was inherently homophobic and therefore incompatible with Dutch values. As he put it to one journalist, with his trademark nonchalance which aimed to shock: “I'm not a racist. I have friends in all the colours of the rainbow ... I sleep with them. You don’t.” (Buzzfeed, 2017). 

 

Fortuyn was shot dead just ahead of the 2002 elections by an animal rights activist. The incident was shocking and perplexing in equal merit given that of all LPF’s controversies, the party didn’t even have a fleshed-out policy on animal welfare. Fortuyn’s killing made him a political martyr, propelling LPF into a coalition government. Yet the inexperienced party struggled to cope with its meteoric rise, and without Fortuyn to lead the way, LPF collapsed into infighting within weeks (DW, 2002).  

 

Nonetheless, Fortuyn’s influence on Dutch politics has been inescapable. He gave Islamophobia an acceptable face and dramatically shifted the dial on what were considered palatable, permissible views in the heartland of European progressiveness, paving the way for others to follow. 

 

Thierry Baudet: The Dandy of the Dutch Far Right 

 

One such politician is Thierry Baudet, the eccentric 41-year-old leader of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD) party. Baudet has hailed Fortuyn as an inspiration, without the latter’s sexuality coming into question. Yet beyond immigration, it’s hard to imagine what Fortuyn would have made of Baudet and his party members’ other views on LGBTQ+ rights.  

 

Baudet has been accused of misogyny and has long lamented what he perceives as the ‘feminisation’ and ‘emasculation’ of Dutch society. In 2018, an FvD party member was forced to step down for complaining that gay men, while ‘smart’, harmed society overall as they could not pass their intelligence on through reproduction. Yet while the FvD might deem homophobia unacceptable, gender-bashing is apparently completely admissible. During a TV interview last November, Baudet was asked about his views on LGBTQ+ issues, as put to him by a non-binary audience member. Baudet responded by saying “You are something that I don't think exists”, adding that he hoped the audience member would “get better quickly”. 

 

Mixed Messages: Geert Wilders on Queer Rights 

 

As recognisable and outspoken as Baudet may be, FvD failed to make any serious in-roads into last year’s elections. Instead, that award went to the far-right political veteran, Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV), which won a major victory in the elections - the first time in the Netherlands’ history that the radical right has secured the largest share of the vote.  

 

The PVV’s success is overwhelmingly due to the effective exploitation of one issue: the perceived threat posed by the country’s Muslim population. As outspoken (and arguably more crass) than Fortuyn, Wilders has previously been found guilty by Dutch courts of ‘inciting discrimination’ for brandishing young Muslims as ‘terrorists’ and has labelled Dutch Moroccans as ‘scum’. 

 

By contrast, Wilders has long cited the Netherlands’ inclusive approach to homosexuality as an important marker of the country’s liberal identity (as he understands it), which he argues is now under threat from Muslim migrant populations. It would be wrong to claim that there are no tensions at all between the Netherlands’ Muslim and LGBTQ+ communities. Homo/bi/transphobic attacks carried out by what the press often refer to as ‘Muslim youths’ are not unheard of. This of course plays into Wilders’ hands, who uses such incidents to sow discord rather than seeking to build bridges, leading many commentators to believe that the PVV’s primary aim in weaponising queer issues is political gain rather than any serious sense of allyship. 

 

This suspicion was broadly confirmed in the PVV’s manifesto ahead of last year’s general election. Within the section on ‘Democracy, Culture and Public Broadcasting’ (in case anyone fancied a harrowing read), the party committed to abolishing the National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism, cancelling state funding of ‘Diversity propaganda’, and an insistence that municipalities stop ‘cooperating with gender measures [read: protections for trans people], climate madness and diversity bullshit’. You read right; the manifesto of the country’s leading political party quite literally refers to ‘diversity bullshit’, a phrase that is as vague as it is gauche. 

 

An Uncertain Future: The PVV’s Domestic and European Position on LGBTQ+ Rights 

 

Having won the most seats under the Netherlands’ system of proportionate representation, there had been the expectation that Wilders would become the country’s next Prime Minister. Yet months of political wrangling have prevented Wilders from taking power, owing to other parties refusing to form a coalition government with him in the top job. Instead, the country will likely be governed partly by parties on the right, and partly by technocrats. Yet some have warned that this may open the door to Wilders wielding power from behind closed doors, without the usual democratic checks and balances to hold him accountable. 

 

Meanwhile, in the even more recent European Parliament elections, Eurosceptic PVV won six of the Netherlands’ 31 seats. Not the landslide victory for the country’s far-right as many feared, yet still a major jump up from the same elections in 2019, when the party failed to secure a single seat. It has also catapulted the PVV into the second-largest Dutch party in the European Parliament where it has aligned itself with the European-wide far-right political group, ‘Identity and Democracy’ (ID), which includes France’s National Rally and Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ), both of which have long and tangled histories of right-wing extremism.  

 

In the past, ID opposed a resolution to declare Europe an ‘LGBTQ Freedom Zone’, arguing such matters were for individual jurisdictions, despite the impetus for the resolution being Poland’s infamous persecution of its queer citizens at the time. Admittedly, this was before PVV’s debut onto the European stage and entry into the group, but it’s quite telling that ID was the obvious family of choice for Wilders and his party. And perhaps more telling still of his commitment to our community’s hard-won rights.  


Bibliography 

 

The Algemeiner (2020) ‘Muslim LGBT ‘Allies’ Silent as Muslim Attacks on Gays’ Increase’ Available at: https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/05/05/muslim-lgbt-allies-silent-as-muslim-attacks-on-gays-increase/ Accessed: 24/05/24 

 

Bèlangera, E. & Aartsb, K (2006) ‘Explaining the Rise of the LPF: Issues, Discontent, and the 2002 Dutch Election’ Available at: 

 

Blom, R. (2021) ‘The employment of gender and sexuality in the anti-immigration discourse 

of the right-wing populist party Forum for Democracy (FvD)’. Leiden University. Available at: https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3278627/view Accessed: 23/05/24 

 

Buzzfeed News (2017) ‘The Man Who Taught Donald Trump To Pit Gay People Against Immigrants’ Available at: 

 

Dutch News (2018) ‘Local elections: Forum voor Democratie hopeful quits after gay rights comments’ Available at: 

 

Dutch News (2023) ‘Integration with DN: key moments in Dutch LGBTQ+ history’ Available at: https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/08/inburgering-with-dn-key-moments-in-dutch-lgbtq-history/ Accessed: 14/06/24 

 

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Economist, The (2024) ‘The Dutch are getting a half-populist, half-pragmatist government’ Available at: https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/06/06/the-dutch-are-getting-a-half-populist-half-pragmatist-government Accessed: 06/06/24 

 

European Centre for Populism Studies (date not provided) ‘Islamophobic Populism’ Available at: https://www.populismstudies.org/Vocabulary/islamophobic-populism/ Accessed 6/06/24 

 

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The Guardian (2002) ‘Fortuyn suspect 'is animal rights activist'’ Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/may/07/thefarright.uk3 Accessed 31.05.24  

 

The Guardian (2024) ‘Geert Wilders won’t be Dutch PM, but he can still harm Europe. He must be challenged’ Available at: 

 

LSE Blog (2022) ‘Sexuality, Masculinity, and Populist Radical Right Leadership’ Available at: 

 

OutTv (2023) ‘Jetten (D66) and Baudet (FvD) clash over LGBT+ rights: “your language leads to more homophobia in the Netherlands”’ Available at: https://www.out.tv/nieuws/jetten-d66-en-baudet-fvd-botsen-over-lgbt-rechten-uw-taal-leidt-tot-meer-homohaat-in-nederland?acceptCookies=6636238b1a9fc Accessed: 28/05/24 

 

Politico (2021) ‘MEPs proclaim the EU an LGBTQ ‘Freedom Zone’ Available at:  

 

Pink News (2008) ‘Muslim gang attacks gay catwalk model’ Available at: https://www.thepinknews.com/2008/06/06/muslim-gang-attacks-gay-catwalk-model/ Accessed: 24/05/24 

 

PVV Manifesto (2023) Available at:  

 

Puar, J.K (2007) Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times. Duke University Press 

 

RSFL (2022) ‘RFSL releases election report: the Left and Green party in the top, Swedish Democrats at the bottom’ Available at: https://www.rfsl.se/en/aktuellt/rfsl-slapper-valrapport-v-och-mp-i-topp-sd-i-botten/ 

Accessed: 23/05/24 

 

Towleroad (2005) ‘Chris Crain Appears on Dutch TV’ AVailable at: 

 

Vox (2017) ‘Marine Le Pen wants to protect France’s LGBTQ community — but opposes same-sex marriage’ Available at: https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/5/15542242/marine-le-pen-french-elections-gay-outreach Accessed: 26.01.24 

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