During Pride Amsterdam it is a party for a week, but there is also serious attention for the emancipation of the lhbtiq+ community. NU.nl asked three people, who contribute to this on a broad level, about their story.
Clem Bongers (left): “Pink elderly people are often in a dependent position.”
Clem Bongers (left): “Pink elderly people are often in a dependent position.” Photo: Clem Bongers
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As: Clem Bongers (83)
What: Creator of ‘Pink Loper’, quality mark for lhbtiq+-friendly care homes
Clem Bongers experienced the first years of LGBTQ+ emancipation in the Netherlands. The time before that was “very lonely” for LGBT people, he looks back. “At that time, homosexuality didn’t really exist. There were no role models and it wasn’t talked about at all.”
Until the 1970s, coming out was not an option for him. That led to a double life.
During the week he was a teacher in Nijmegen, on the weekends he rented a room in Amsterdam. There he found like-minded people, including at the COC in Rozenstraat. At that time, role models such as former COC chairman Brenno Premsela also emerged. He was one of the first Dutch people to publicly declare their homosexuality. “Premsela showed that you no longer had to keep it a secret.”
“In the end I was completely tired of the double life,” says Bongers steadfastly. But coming out for his sexuality was still a big step. “At that time, homosexuality and pedosexuality were often seen as one pot wet. How could I still work with children? I assumed they wanted to fire me as soon as possible.”
‘So what?’ was the reaction of the school board when Bongers did start the conversation. “I burst into tears,” he says. However, the parents and children were not informed. “That was still too sensitive.”
In the early eighties Bongers joined a gay theater group in Nijmegen. There he came into contact with the local branch of the COC. “We discovered that there was a lot of loneliness among gay older people in care institutions. They were afraid to come out and were sometimes bullied.”
For example, he knew an eighty-year-old man who received nasty comments about his homosexuality from healthcare staff. “He kept his mouth shut, because he was dependent on these people. I thought that was very bad and that has always been my motivation to do some pink elderly.”
He became co-initiator of the Roze Loper, a quality mark for care homes with the aim of promoting the social acceptance and inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people in care and welfare institutions. The Pink Carpet is awarded to organizations that have completed an extensive project.
“We knocked on the door of care homes, who often didn’t want to talk because they didn’t recognize the problem. It took a lot of time and effort to make it clear that that was the problem.”
After the process, the exclusivity of an organization is tested by an independent committee. There are now more than a hundred care and welfare institutions that have been awarded the predicate and thus offer a safe environment to LGBTQ+ people.
Bongers, at the age of 83, is still committed to the community. For example, he organizes a meeting day in Nijmegen several times a month: “I’m not sitting still for a long time.”
Tieneke Sumter: “In Suriname there was little talk about sexuality anyway.”
Tieneke Sumter: “In Suriname there was little talk about sexuality anyway.” Photo: Jan van Breda Photography
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As: Tieneke Sumter (60)
What: Stands up for Surinamese lhbtiq+ people for over forty years
Tieneke Sumter was born in Suriname and moved with her mother to Geuzenveld in Amsterdam when she was six. There she had a happy childhood, where – as long as she can remember – she stood up to injustice. “If someone was being bullied, I always spoke out.”
She came out as a lesbian when she was 17. Her small-scale struggle against injustice grew when she came into contact with SUHO (Surinamese Homophilen) at the age of eighteen during her studies at the Social Academy in Amsterdam. That was the first lhbtiq+ organization for Surinamese in the Netherlands.
The main goal of the organization was to create a place where Surinamese lhbtiq+ people, a vulnerable group within an already vulnerable group, could come together.
“We were desperately needed,” says Sumter. “The COC was a very white club at the time. At first we were warmly welcomed, but a number of people thought that the COC was becoming too black. Then we started organizing ourselves.”
After 1975 many Surinamese came to the Netherlands because of the independence of that country. “We were a large ethnic group in this society. It was very important that we came together: for more visibility, but also to contribute to the emancipation of the Surinamese LGBTIQ+ community.”
SUHO organized lectures, discussion evenings and manifestations. A newspaper was also published. This led to greater visibility and knowledge about this group. Sumter became chairman in 1984.
The members also tried to challenge Article 302 of the Surinamese Penal Code, a colonial remnant of Dutch Article 248bis. That article banned same-sex sexual acts under the age of 21, while the minimum age for heterosexual relationships was 16. This battle was in vain.
In 1987, Sumter returned to Suriname, where she continued her struggle. In 2008 she founded the first Caribbean organization for lesbian women: Women’S Way. And after a Surinamese parliamentarian said that homosexuality was a disease that had to be eradicated, the LGBTI platform Suriname was born in 2012.
With that, she organized the country’s first Pride. “In Suriname there was little talk about sexuality at that time,” says Sumter. “But since the platform’s inception, we’ve finally started talking about it out loud.”
In 2016 she moved back to the Netherlands. Her daughter wanted to do a pastry course, which you did not have in Suriname at the time. “I was shocked what I encountered here,” she sighs. “Amsterdam was in the top ten of most gay-friendly cities, but that was no longer the case. There was also a lot of open racism.”
“Here we go again“, she thought. And that happened. She was asked by gay activist Mikel Haman to set up an organization for LGBTQ+ Surinamese: Survibes. This foundation organizes, among other things, lectures and awards an annual prize to people who are committed to the Surinamese and Caribbean lhbtiq+ community.
Haman was to play the pioneering role, but died six months after it was founded. In honor of him, the foundation has recently been renamed the Mikel Haman Foundation. An organization that Sumter is still proud to chair.
Ronald Benita: “Hopefully young people think they will be fine too.”
Ronald Benita: “Hopefully young people think they will be fine too.” Photo: Remon van den Will
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As: Ronald Benita (19)
What: Youth Ambassador of Pride Amsterdam
Ronald Benita’s activism stems from his time at secondary school in Rotterdam. “I didn’t dare come out because I saw how queer people (people who don’t feel at home within the hetero and gender norms, ed.) were always called out.” He decided to finish high school before coming out about his homosexuality and kept it a secret for four years.
His coming out followed in 2019, during his first visit to Pride. “I had taken a picture of myself at a Pride Amsterdam sign. On Instagram I wrote below that it was a beautiful day to finally be myself.” He put his phone down tensely. Moments later, he was overwhelmed by the number of positive reactions.
Eighteen months ago, he showed himself to a large audience for the first time. He appeared on posters for Purple Friday, a nationwide day of action where schools can show their support for the community by wearing purple. His coming-out story was shared on multiple platforms.
“By being visible, I hope to be able to mean something to other young people like me,” says Benita. “I used to look for role models on social media, the internet and in newspapers. But I could never find myself.”
“Hopefully other queer young people who recognize themselves in me will dare to come out sooner,” he says modestly. “Or that they think: I’ll be fine too.”
As ambassador of Youth Pride, the youth committee of Amsterdam Pride, Benita hopes to reach LGBTQ+ youth of color in particular. “I see that it is sometimes even more difficult for them to come out. There is still a big taboo in some communities. There is also a lot of violence against trans people of color in other countries. More attention should really be paid to this .”
Benita recently graduated from a theater training in Rotterdam and is going into the new
years of studying social work. He hopes to be able to make his voice heard for a long time to come. “Perhaps
I pour my activism into an art form.”
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