Amsterdam now has a gay tourist office
25 November 2009
In August, Amsterdam became the first city in the world to boast a separate information office for gay tourists. Since then, another has been opened in London.
The initiator of the Amsterdam project, Hans Verhoeven, argues that this gay tourist office has added value. Homosexual tourists have no idea where the cool gay bars are,
and directions to the Homo Monument - near the church Westerkerk and the Anne Frank House - come in handy as well.
Insiders say Hans Verhoeven has ensured that the city of Amsterdam can once again deliver on its reputation as gay capital of Europe.
Source
Amsterdam now has a gay tourist office
Even straight people know where the cool gay bars and Homo monument are. Wouldn't it be a better idea to give all the existing tourist information offices the useful information that gay people can't get there, instead of opening a new place?....I wonder if they have 'straight' lol tourist info there. I think this ones a bit silly, considering this place is s'posed to be the gay capital of europe you'd think gay tourist information can't be that hard to find. If it is, then that has to be bad promotion tactics from the gay buisness community or blatant discriminatiion from the exisiting info offices. 
You nuts if you think Amsterdam is the gay capital of Europe. It is become the number one city to get you ass kicked if you are gay, sadly.DC wrote:
examples?Marco wrote:You nuts if you think Amsterdam is the gay capital of Europe. It is become the number one city to get you ass kicked if you are gay, sadly.DC wrote:
The violence against gays coming primarily from the Moroccan community is scary. Do you read the paper (not the Telegraf as they are pretty right wing).sh@dy wrote:examples?Marco wrote:You nuts if you think Amsterdam is the gay capital of Europe. It is become the number one city to get you ass kicked if you are gay, sadly.DC wrote:
"A'dam losing gay-friendly reputation"
13 August 2007
AMSTERDAM – Nowhere in the world are homosexuals confronted with violence so regularly as in Amsterdam. Gay men and women are now staying away from the Dutch capital because of all the reports on violent incidents recently. This is costing the Amsterdam economy a great deal of money.
Boris Dittrich, former party leader of Democrats D66 and now director for the gay rights section of human rights organisation Human Rights Watch, said this in the Telegraaf on Sunday.
"There is no doubt about the fact that Amsterdam's reputation as a gay capital is waning," Dittrich said in the newspaper.
He receives reports on attacks on homosexuals around the world as part of his work. "Things happen everywhere, but nowhere so regularly as in Amsterdam at the moment."
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has been receiving alarming reports on a weekly basis about the safety of homosexuals in the Netherlands, the Telegraaf reported.
"I am confronted with it constantly while doing my work. People come to me to ask what on earth is going on in the Netherlands. The reports I get about Amsterdam are shocking," Dittrich added.
Gays are reportedly avoiding Amsterdam because of the violence. "They would rather go to Berlin or Barcelona, where this kind of thing isn't going on. All in all you could conclude that our reputation as a gay-friendly capital is gone," the former D66 leader said in the Telegraaf.
Human Rights Watch is encouraged however by the response in the Netherlands to the incidents. Dittrich says the government is taking a leading role in standing up for the rights of homosexuals.
[Copyright Expatica News Subject: Dutch news }
Gay Bashing in the Netherlands
BruceBawer.com November 25 2008
For years, gay-bashing has been on the rise in Amsterdam. It's well known among Dutch gays that young immigrant-group men are disproportionately responsible for these attacks (the great majority of which go unreported).
There's no need for any study to prove this: the anecdotal evidence is immense. In the last couple of years, there have been several high-profile – and increasingly audacious – assaults on gay people, and routinely the perpetrators have been young Muslim men.
It's obviously no coincidence that the perceived climb in gay-bashings over the last decade has seemed to track the increase in Amsterdam's Muslim population during the same period. (Meanwhile, the proportion of ethnic Dutch Amsterdammers has declined steadily.)
Nonetheless, Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen asked researchers at the University of Amsterdam about a year ago to find out what kind of people were responsible for antigay attacks and what their motives were. Anyone familiar with Cohen’s call for an “accommodation with the Muslims,” including (among other things) toleration “of orthodox Muslims who consciously discriminate against their women,” could be forgiven for fearing that the fix was in – that the study’s conclusions were foregone and would be thoroughly, safely PC, with any mention of Islamic teachings about homosexuality neatly airbrushed away.
The study was finally released last week. I first learned of this from an AP bulletin sent me by Dan Savage. Then, this weekend, I heard a brief report on Sirius OutQ radio news about the study's findings.
The thrust of OutQ’s report was that the perpetrators of antigay violence in Amsterdam are overwhelmingly native Dutchmen, and that this finding disproves the notion (which OutQ represented as a fallacy spread by the media) that these offenses are committed mainly by immigrants.
Online I found an article at DutchNews.nl that made the same claim. Headlined “Gay attackers usually young Dutch men,” it read as follows:
Most of the 150 cases of verbal or physical violence against gay men and women in the first six months of this year were committed by native Dutch men or no attacker was listed, according to home affairs ministry figures.
Police chiefs were asked to keep a record of instances of gay bashing following concerns that attacks were increasing and that young immigrants were largely to blame. There have been several high profile attacks on gay men over the past year, particularly in Amsterdam.
But in only 16% of the registered incidents between January and June was the attacker described as non-white, the figures show.
Meanwhile the aforementioned AP bulletin made no (...)
Posted November 25th, 2008 by pu
»
* Login to post comments
BruceBawer.com November 25 2008
For years, gay-bashing has been on the rise in Amsterdam. It's well known among Dutch gays that young immigrant-group men are disproportionately responsible for these attacks (the great majority of which go unreported).
There's no need for any study to prove this: the anecdotal evidence is immense. In the last couple of years, there have been several high-profile – and increasingly audacious – assaults on gay people, and routinely the perpetrators have been young Muslim men.
It's obviously no coincidence that the perceived climb in gay-bashings over the last decade has seemed to track the increase in Amsterdam's Muslim population during the same period. (Meanwhile, the proportion of ethnic Dutch Amsterdammers has declined steadily.)
Nonetheless, Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen asked researchers at the University of Amsterdam about a year ago to find out what kind of people were responsible for antigay attacks and what their motives were. Anyone familiar with Cohen’s call for an “accommodation with the Muslims,” including (among other things) toleration “of orthodox Muslims who consciously discriminate against their women,” could be forgiven for fearing that the fix was in – that the study’s conclusions were foregone and would be thoroughly, safely PC, with any mention of Islamic teachings about homosexuality neatly airbrushed away.
The study was finally released last week. I first learned of this from an AP bulletin sent me by Dan Savage. Then, this weekend, I heard a brief report on Sirius OutQ radio news about the study's findings.
The thrust of OutQ’s report was that the perpetrators of antigay violence in Amsterdam are overwhelmingly native Dutchmen, and that this finding disproves the notion (which OutQ represented as a fallacy spread by the media) that these offenses are committed mainly by immigrants.
Online I found an article at DutchNews.nl that made the same claim. Headlined “Gay attackers usually young Dutch men,” it read as follows:
Most of the 150 cases of verbal or physical violence against gay men and women in the first six months of this year were committed by native Dutch men or no attacker was listed, according to home affairs ministry figures.
Police chiefs were asked to keep a record of instances of gay bashing following concerns that attacks were increasing and that young immigrants were largely to blame. There have been several high profile attacks on gay men over the past year, particularly in Amsterdam.
But in only 16% of the registered incidents between January and June was the attacker described as non-white, the figures show.
Meanwhile the aforementioned AP bulletin made no (...)
Posted November 25th, 2008 by pu
»
* Login to post comments
I didn't say I thought it was, I said it was supposed to be and, as it happens, it still is....though apparently losing the tiara. The attacks on gay ppl from a certain minority group you brought up, although not only isolated to the gay community, surely highlights why it's better to have gay tourist information in all the offices across the city instead of an individual, almost 'segregated' one. Which kinda seems counter productive to me.
Sorry, I did not mean that towards you. I have gay friends who think its paradise here (visitors) and they need a dose of reality sometimes.DC wrote:I didn't say I thought it was, I said it was supposed to be and, as it happens, it still is....though apparently losing the tiara. The attacks on gay ppl from a certain minority group you brought up, although not only isolated to the gay community, surely highlights why it's better to have gay tourist information in all the offices across the city instead of an individual, almost 'segregated' one. Which kinda seems counter productive to me.
And white kids attack gays here also, its just rarely reported.
Peace
-
Sir Niall of Essex-sire
- Posts: 3106
- Joined: Thu 20th Mar 2008 04:38 pm
Why cant stoners just be stoners instead of annoying?Eva wrote:Why can't gay people just be gay instead of annoying?
Am I the only one who don't get why they need special stuff? oO
But I guess it's nice for those who actually use it.
Am I the only one who don't get why they need special stuff? Like the Hash muesum or cannabis tours?
Defeating evil with a thing called love