The Gay and Lesbian Movement in Belgium from the 1950S to the Present Paul Borghs
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))) The Gay and Lesbian Movement in Belgium from the 1950s to the Present Paul Borghs abstract The small country of Belgium has become one of the world’s frontrunners in the extension of legal rights to gay and lesbian people. Belgium was, for example, the second country in the world (after the Netherlands) to legalize marriage for same- sex couples. The Belgian gay and lesbian movement played an important role in the emancipation and acceptance of—and the extension of rights to—the gay and lesbian population. This contribution outlines the history of the Belgian gay and lesbian movement from its beginning in the 1950s to the present day.1 The Bel- gian gay and lesbian movement had a difficult start, followed by periods of success alternating with periods of tension and conflict. The gay and lesbian movement eventually became one of the most successful social movements in Belgium. The case of Belgium, in particular the Belgian GLBTQ2 movement, is in many ways unique. The Belgian movement, for example, was started in the 1950s by a woman. The so- called “homophile movement” in the 1950s was predomi- nantly male in almost all countries, with only two exceptions: Belgium and the United States (where a separate woman’s group— the Daughters of Bilitis— was founded).3 The Belgian movement also has some Catholic roots. Some Cath- olic priests and nuns, such as Wilfried Lammens, Piet De Haene, and Denise Burton, played a key role in the Belgian movement. One of the first groups for people with HIV, De Witte Raven (The White Raven), was given shelter by a congregation of Catholic nuns. Another unique feature of the Belgian GLBTQ movement is the source of its funding. In the 1970s, the (Flemish) movement Copyright © 2016 Michigan State University. Paul Borghs, “The Gay and Lesbian Movement in Belgium from the 1950s to the Present,” QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking 3.3 (2016): 29–70. ISSN 2327- 1574. All rights reserved. 29 This work originally appeared in QED, 3.3, Fall 2016, published by Michigan State University Press. 30 ( Paul Borghs received for the first time a limited government grant. Nowadays, the GLBTQ movement is actively sponsored by the state; it receives an extensive and stable funding that enables it to employ a relatively large staff. The Flemish umbrella organization çavaria is now one of the biggest GLBTQ organizations in Europe. Furthermore, Belgium has various ministries for equal opportunities at dif- ferent levels of its political system to handle GLBTQ issues. Between 2011 and 2014, the federal government of Belgium was led by an openly homosexual prime minister with Italian roots—the French- speaking socialist, Elio Di Rupo. In the same period, both the Flemish and the Brussels governments each had an openly gay minister. One of the most recent GLBTQ- friendly laws approved in Belgium— the law on parenthood for co- mothers— was adopted in the Cham- ber of Representatives with 114 votes in favor and only 10 votes against (and one abstention). Liberals, socialists, ecologists, and Christian democrats, as well as (Flemish) nationalists, voted in favor of the law. Only the extreme right- wing (Flemish) political party Vlaams Belang4 (Flemish Interest) voted against it. The extreme right- wing party was firmly opposed to the opening up of mar- riage and adoption for same- sex couples, but recently an important politician of the party declared in the press that he has become a proponent of same- sex marriage.5 In 2012, an openly gay police officer was appointed as head of the police force of Antwerp, a major Belgian city. In 2014, a Belgian bishop wrote a letter to the Vatican asking understanding for married same-sex couples. The bishop was awarded the çavaria campaign award, a prize that is annually awarded by the Flemish GLBTQ movement. However, wanting to maintain his independence, he refused to accept the prize. Nowadays, same- sex couples in Belgium are not only allowed to marry but also to adopt nationally and internationally. Single GLBTQs can adopt as well. Lesbian couples and singles have access to easy and affordable reproductive tech- nologies. Lesbian co-mothers can become legal parents, either automatically or through recognition. Belgium also has an all-encompassing antidiscrimination law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, transsexu- ality, gender identity, and gender expression, among other things. The law con- siderably exceeds the requirements set by the European Union directives with regard to discrimination. The Kingdom of Belgium, with its complex structure, has become a “para- dise” for GLBTQ rights, although the case of Belgium is also paradoxical.6 This work originally appeared in QED, 3.3, Fall 2016, published by Michigan State University Press. The Gay and Lesbian Movement in Belgium from the 1950s to the Present ) 31 ))) The Kingdom of Belgium: Paradise and Paradox Belgium is a small constitutional monarchy in Western Europe. It became a full- fledged federal state in the 1990s. Today it has (1) a federal government and a federal parliament, (2) three communities (the Flemish community, the French- speaking community, and the German- speaking community), and (3) three regions (Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels). The communities and regions have their own elected governments and parliaments. Communities mainly deal with so- called personal affairs whereas regions deal chiefly with socioeconomic affairs. For a long time, “middle- of- the- road” Belgium was considered an overtly “straight” and Catholic country where moral conservatism had a major influ- ence on politics.7 That a rather conservative country could become a paradise for GLBTQ rights— in a relatively short period of time— seems paradoxical. Another paradox has to do with the linguistic complexity of Belgium.8 There are three official languages in Belgium. About 60 percent of Belgians are Dutch- speaking whereas about 40 percent are French-speaking. Less than 1 percent of the population is German- speaking. The main cities in Dutch- speaking Belgium (Flanders) are Antwerp and Ghent. The main cities in French- speaking Belgium (Wallonia) are Charleroi and Liège. Brussels is the capital of Belgium and it is officially a bilingual (Dutch and French) city. However, most people in Brussels use French for communicating with the authorities. Belgium is strongly divided along linguistic lines. Dutch-speaking and French- speaking Belgians tend to live in separate worlds, except in Brussels, and they do not always speak each other’s language.9 As a consequence, the gay and lesbian movement has largely developed in a separate manner in the Dutch- speaking and the French- speaking parts of Belgium. One would expect the linguistic divi- sion within the movement to be a source of weakness. However, this was not the case; the movement overcame the potential weakness arising from its linguistic division. This is another paradoxical feature of Belgium. ))) The Emergence of the Gay and Lesbian Movement in Belgium After the Second World War, associations for homosexual men and women were set up in several European countries.10 In 1946, the Shakespeare Club was founded in the Netherlands. The name of the club was changed to Cultuur en Ontspanningscentrum (COC; Culture and Leisure Center) in 1949. Within the Dutch COC, an initiative was taken to bring together homosexual men This work originally appeared in QED, 3.3, Fall 2016, published by Michigan State University Press. 32 ( Paul Borghs and woman from different countries. The International Committee for Sexual Equality (ICSE) was born.11 The ICSE offered the opportunity to exchange expe- riences (e.g., on the setting up of new associations) and to coordinate actions aimed at improving the social position of homosexuals. The ICSE denounced the criminalization and the medicalization of homo- sexuality. In a number of countries, including Germany and the UK, homosex- ual contact between consenting adults was punishable by law. In other countries, such as France and the Netherlands, a higher age of consent applied for homo- sexual contacts. Belgium had no specific legislations in the matter. Homosexual- ity fell under laws related to debauchery and public indecency. Medical doctors tried to cure homosexuals. Homosexual men, for example, were treated with female hormones and sent to psychiatrists. The treatment had no effect, was expensive, and took a lot of time. On a number of occasions, the homosexual “patients” claimed that they were “cured” in order to get rid of their psychiatrist. The treatment was then stopped and the psychiatrist described the treatment method as “successful” in magazines and at conferences.12 In a number of coun- tries including the Netherlands, medical doctors experimented with surgical cas- tration, lobotomy, and the administration of gas mixtures.13 A Belgian woman named Suzanne de Pues came into contact with the Dutch COC and the ICSE. In 1953, she returned, full of enthusiasm, from the ICSE conference at Amsterdam. She immediately got to work to found an associa- tion for homosexuals in Belgium. Instead of her own name, she used a pseud- onym, Suzan Daniel, which at that time was not unusual in homosexual circles. The new association was called Centre Culturel Belge—Cultuurcentrum Bel- gië (CCB; Culture Center Belgium).14 In order to avoid problems, with the postal services for example, a neutral name was chosen that in no way referred to homosexuality. Suzan Daniel also consulted a police officer and a senator, both of whom assured her that it was not punishable in Belgium to start an associa- tion for homosexuals. The first public activity of the CCB took place in Brussels in July 1954, and was followed by the second public activity in October 1954. At the second meeting, Suzan Daniel was humiliated by a man who got up during the meeting and said that he did not want to receive orders from a woman.