I can’t remember how I first read about a rightward shift among Dutch gays, but Baron Bodissey’s post reminde me that I had intended to blog on this very topic. A poll by NOVA, a Dutch TV show found Dutch gays prefer conservative parties to “progressive” (i.e., left-of-center) ones.
I wonder if this shift has anything to do with the failure of left-wing parties to stand up to radical Muslims living in Holland who refuse to integrate into Dutch society while harassing gays and lesbians living in (and visiting as our friend Chris Crain learned) the Netherlands. A phenomenon Bruce Bawer, another friend of this blog described in his excellent book While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within (which both Bruce (the GayPatriot) and I recommend).
It seems left-wing politicians in Europe are having trouble balancing the competing interests of the various “minority” (read: “victims” in coalition of oppressed) groups to whom they feel they must appeal and whom they fear offending.
And it seems the Dutch left is having trouble maintaining that precarious balance. I wonder if the failure of leading Democrats (as well as gay organizations) to recognize how Islamofascism represents the greatest threat to gays around the world today will lead to a gay exodus from that pandering party.
One sign of this happening in the number of gay Democrats contemplating a vote for John McCain this fall.
I recently read Aayan Hirsi Ali’s book, Infidel. She talks about switching to the conservative party in Holland and mentions that conservative parties in Holland are nothing like the US. They tend to be much more liberal socially, their big issue is immigration.
The religious fanatics in Holland are Muslim, very few European Dutch are Christian any more, if they are – it is a very watered down version. So there is no Christian religious right to influence the parties.
Also, it is clear that with the real threats to Gays on the streets of Holland, some angry tirades about not allowing gay marriage just don’t mean that much.
I’m glad they are waking up in Europe, can we please wake up here before the situation deteriorates to the level it is there!
Gay folks in Belguim are also moving to the Right, particularly to Vlaams Belang
In Italy all the voters (I dont know about the gay aspect) are abandoning the Leftist parties.
Most certainly it does.
One can only hope. 😉
Obviously, the Dutch gays are not as narcissistic as ours are.
I know in Scandinavia Gays have the rights of marriage – just like a hetero couple. I don’t know if that is true in Holland, but would guess that it is, or there is some form of DP arrangement there.
Where has that gotten them? Nowhere, if Gays are threatened with real violence on their own streets. The government can confer all the rights it wants, but isn’t able to provide the most basic need – safety in ones daily life.
So I’d say that for the Gays in Europe, reality is staring them in the face, so they are voting their for their personal agenda – safety.
My Dutch friends give me heartburn when they describe themselves as “tolerant.” What is the alternative …. intolerant? The Amsterdam crowd has always been “tolerant” of those things we would most likely file under “license”. They have open brothels, couples clubs where all fetishes are fair game, gay everything, open drug use and markets, medically assisted suicide, pornography of every description, etc. Nearly everything you want, you can get. They don’t cater directly to pedophiles, but they have travel services that will book your fantasy vacation.
The Dutch feel that you should act on your whims and they “tolerate” it. There are many good and decent Dutch who do not live life on the edge. There are many traditional and conservative people in the Dutch countryside. They, too, are “tolerated.” (Although many of the Dutch do regard religion as an occasional festival or sideshow.)
Radical Islam has shaken the “tolerant” Dutch to their bones. They can not quite understand why these people don’t just lighten up and get with the “tolerance” program.
This is the problem with “tolerance.” You can not depend on the “invisible hand of morality” to bring balance to your open system. Guardrails must be physical, not just symbols of respect and political correctness.
Now the Dutch are faced with cracking down hard on a group of people who have entered their society like the Mongol Horde which is preying on the Dutch and using their “tolerance” as a battle plan against them.
It is sad to hear the Dutch complain that the Muslims are not becoming Dutch. The poor liberals have gone so daft that they can not see that their idea of Paradise in the embodiment of Hell to religious fundamentalists. The Dutch are stuck on Reformation and looking for some Islamic Erasmus to straighten things out. Meanwhile, the new Caliphate is taking strong root and has eaten a large part of their lunch.
Certainly, Dutch gays have gotten the message loud and clear that Radical Islam is intolerant of them in a deadly serious way. I doubt that their shift to more “conservative” lifestyles is an epiphany. It sounds more like a “foxhole conversion” to me.
#2 – Vince, the Greeks are also moving towards the right. The head of the Socialist PASOK party is losing head-to-head with the Conservative PM at least by 5%, which in a multi-party system is the kiss of death.
And from gays I’ve heard from in Greece, they don’t plan on voting Socialist any time soon.
Regards,
Peter H.
Although conservative Muslim immigrants do frighten gays into supporting politicians who promise to oppose those immigrants, another factor is that gays, on average, have more money than other people; that makes it more likely they will vote for parties which support liberal economic policies instead of socialist, redistributive ones.
Unlike the United States, the right-wing parties compete with the leftist parties for gay votes. Like other commentators have said – Dutch parties are all socially leftist. The American left needs to realize that gays probably wouldn’t support them if they weren’t scared of the social conservatives. If the GOP could move past the issue and embrace gays, then we might expect a shift in gay voters to the right as well.