Tweede Kamer der Staten‐Generaal Commissie Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap (OCW), woordvoerders Homo‐emancipatie Postbus 20018 2500 EA Den Haag cie.ocw@tweedekamer.nl 7 december 2009 dearspokesmen, on the 10th of december there will be a debate about the progress of gay‐ emancipation policy. We would like to ask your attention for the unclearedrole of the self‐organisations of foreigners who are attracted to the same sex. Weak position The position of foreigners who are attracted to the same sex is weak. Many of us feelforced to make a choice between their own culture in which loyalty to family and friends is of high importance, or the dutch culture in which taking a gay identity and the openness that comes with is seen as a liberty‐ideal.some try to find a midst between both choices; this midst becomes a forced compromise. Whatever choice one makes, there will always be critisism from family and friends, or the gay community that the choice is not correct enough. The tensions it creates have serious consequences for the personal lif of foreigners who are attractedto the same sex and also for us als self‐organisations. An emancipationmovement can only be succesful if it is carried out by the affected themselves. Fortunatly the netherlands has a growing number of self‐organisations for foreigners that are attracted to the same sex. Though we struggle as self‐organisations with sticking points. These sticking points affect our finacial position, our functioning in the mid‐range and our voice/opinion in the policy. Missing priority In the policiy vision of the dutch gay‐movements coalition agreement there’s been made a line (2007) to support the self‐organisations: “Foreign lesbian , biseksual and transgender females have a worse image than foreign gay‐men. This should be an important point of attention in the years to come in the analysis of problems as well as in the meetingactivities. Also the specific position of foreign transgenders, and the way they meet should be cleared out more. • Structural support for self‐organisations of LGBT’s from other ethnic minorities (maybe in cooperation with the LGBT community) • Professionalisation routes in wich the volunteers of these organisations are put in a position to give the initiatives a long‐lasting character. 1
• interculturalisation routes for the LGBT movement, as well as the working method and also the voor de HLBT‐beweging, zowel op het gebied van werkwijze als op het gebied van composition of employees/volunteers. Unfortunatly this priority is not explicitly taken into the government policy. As a result there is a lot of money available for “talking about” homosexuality in foreigners and dialogue about constitutional law, but the self‐organisations of foreigners who are attracted to the same sex are not or nearly not a part of and that there is no base of support for the organisation itself. If we propose to various funds and ministries we usually get sent in the deep all potential financers find it important that self‐organisations for foreigners who are attracted to the same sex receive support, but for them it is not clear who will take responsibility. Therefor it will not come to a support program. Desirable measures This is nessecary. In a recent analysis of the situation in self‐organisations for foreigners who are attracted to the same sexMOVISIE found that attention is needed for the following: Financial support for the self‐organisations. Knowledge and skill to start self‐organisations and to keep them going. Retrieving a support‐base from our supporters. Achieve effective cooperation wit other organisations. We request you to ask the governmenst that a responsible ministry will be assigned and that a budget is made available.the budget would be partially used for start‐up‐ costs of activities carried out by local self‐organisations of foreigners who are attracted to the same sex and partiallyfor organisation support. About a possible investment. Alas we would like to make two remarks about a possible investment for budgets and a possible support program. First it may seem that, from a national perspective, that we and our supporters form one key group where different organisations are represented. This is a misunderstanding. Our organisations do not overlap at all. It would be disfunctional to force all our organisations to work in one manner or with one goal or pespective. That’s why we do not agree with a budget for foreigners who are attracted to the same sex, if one unchanged program will be started. If possible we would like to use each others expertise. We request you to askthe government to involve us and to have a meaningful voice in starting a support program. Second we are aware that many mainstream and gay‐organisations are willing and ready to support us. We are convinced that this is in the best of interests. We want to be supported aswell. Still we would like to emphasize as self‐organisations we are devout to our Toch willen wij als zelforganisaties benadrukken dat wij hechten aan onze independence and we want to remain critic when looking at the intercultural skills of potential supporters.
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We request that u will let the government know that we would like to make our own policy choices and we would like to assign our own speculators. We hope that these suggestions will help you to show this necessity to the governmenst in enforcing the role of self‐organisations of foreigners who are attracted to the same sex. Kind regards, Emir Belatoui (Stichting Secret Garden) info@stichtingsecretgarden.nl Chafik Gadir (Stichting Nafar) info@nafar.nl Jerry Haimé (Jerry‐Haime.nl) info@jerry‐haime.nl Mikel F. Haman (Suri‐positivo’s) suri‐positivos@hotmail.com, 06 3980 8561 Abelkader Nassiri (Arabische Online Community in oprichting) liteside1@hotmail.com Toni La Tegola (African Gay & Lesbian Youth Foundation) info@africangay.org
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