PVV and trans rights: we have a serious problem

The PVV party, led by Geert Wilders, and other right-leaning parties in talks about the formation of the future governement (the VVD, NSC and BBB), are not only a threat to the Muslim community, but also to trans people and the LGBT community.

Gays as a pretext, Muslims as a target

Amongst some fringes of the LGBT community in the Netherlands, there is a misconception that the Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) might be a good advocate for LGBT (or at least gay) rights.

Around 2010 and onwards, the far-right party has fed this belief willingly, stating that the alleged "Islamisation of Dutch society" would lead to “hate against gays and Jews". Freedom of the LGBT community has also regularly been quoted as being a part of the "Dutch culture" and identity that the party wanted to preserve.

On its X (Twitter) account, Geert Wilders has regularly been speaking about violence against gays, when (allegedly) committed by its usual targets: Muslims and/or immigrants from Arab countries. In a similar fashion, he has raised safety issues with other said minorities (like women or Jews), when it fuels its islamophobic rhetoric. Quite conveniently, he's remained silent about any other case of hate and violence against the LGBTs, and he's also not been voicing any opinion about actual LGBT rights besides fearmongering security issues.

This figure of speech is not something the PVV came up with. It's been used all around the world by various far-right parties, and it has been well theorized and known as homonationalism.

Homonationalism?

The concept of homonationalism has been theorised from 2007 onwards, by an American researcher specialised in LGBT and terrorism studies: Jasbir Puar. It describes a common racist and xenophobic political construction, which claims that the Western society is by essence progressive and egalitarian on issues like sexual diversity and queerness. Meanwhile, Islam, and Eastern civilizations as a whole, are regularly depicted as homophobic and even "barbaric" on such issues, responsible for the raise of homophobia in Western countries.

It’s been used as a tool to keep LGBTs in line within a nationalist and oppressive regime. In what has been wildly seen as a pinkwashing attempt, Israel has often described itself as a haven for LGBTs, justifying the war in part to defend LGBT rights. It's been going as far as to use a glorified figure of the gay soldier in its propaganda (pic. 1). However, the regime has been fueling hate speech against LGBTs who would refuse to support the genocide, calling them chicken for KFC" (pic. 2).

Pic. 1: Israeli soldier Yoav Atzmoni waving a rainbow flag with the words "In The Name of Love" in Gaza. Posted by the @Israel official account on X (Twitter).
Pic. 1: Israeli soldier Yoav Atzmoni waving a rainbow flag with the words "In The Name of Love" in Gaza. Posted by the @Israel official account on X (Twitter).
Pic. 2: Screen capture of a skit from the Israeli show Eretz Nehederet, describing two caricatures of US queer students, being depicted as antisemitic and supportive of Hamas. Posted by the @Israel official account on X (Twitter).
Pic. 2: Screen capture of a skit from the Israeli show Eretz Nehederet, describing two caricatures of US queer students, being depicted as antisemitic and supportive of Hamas. Posted by the @Israel official account on X (Twitter).

At its peak, homonationalism makes obvious that it sees LGBTs as a subpar category of the population, whose specific rights to exist could be revoked any moment, if they refuse to comply with the government — and its nationalist and imperialist projects.

Transphobia, from the newspapers to the Tweede Kamer

Trying to appeal to a conservative gay audience didn't prevent Geert Wilders from actively and regularly voicing transphobic ideas:

  • he's firmly against trans self-determination, and has expressed strong transmedicalist views. For him, only a strict diagnosis expressed by doctors and psychiatrists, and undergoing mandatory operations, would allow you to be recognized as an "actual transsexual".
  • he never misses an opportunity to use the latest trends in right-wing moral panic: public bathrooms, protecting children, "genderterreur", and "totale zotheid" ("complete madness") are part of its usual rhetoric tools spreading hate against trans people.
  • in the same way, he has ridiculed gender transition by likening it to people wanting to become animals, like "camels" and "dromedaries" ("Wat is het? Morgen ben je een kameel? Overmorgen een dromedaris?").

When it comes to actual facts and votes, it becomes really obvious that the PVV never intended to be a proper ally of the LGBTs:

  • they strongly and loudly opposed the new Transgenderwet ("transgender bill") in 2022. They did, yet again, invoke the need to protect children against the trans menace ("laat onze kinderen met rust!" said Lilian Helder).
  • they voted for the ban of puberty blockers.
  • they voted against the extension of clinical research on transgender health, meant to reduce the waiting lists for trans care.
  • they want to ban any talk about LGBT topics and issues in schools, as well as remove all public subsidies towards LGBT organisations, calling all of it "political indoctrination" and "genderwaanzin" ("gender insanity").
  • they refused to participate in the rainbow debate and rainbow vote, and remained silent about ongoing issues such as the "X" marker for IDs, or transition leave for trans workers.

Current allies in talks with the PVV on the making of the next government, also (mostly) agree with these conservative views on LGBT rights:

  • the BBB and the NSC has been following the most right-wing views and votes on LGBT issues (perhaps unsurprisingly so, given their views on social issues, by and large).
  • the VVD is the only outlier. They have been leaning on the progressive side on almost all issues here. While they supported the Transgenderwet, they did, however, raise minor issues during the passing of the law, taking issues with the notion of "informed consent", that they believed needed stronger safeguards.
Pic. 3: Screen capture of the Transvote 2023, an analysis on the stance of all major Dutch parties over trans issues. By Transgender Netwerk, on their website.
Pic. 3: Screen capture of the Transvote 2023, an analysis on the stance of all major Dutch parties over trans issues. By Transgender Netwerk, on their website.

Therefore, there is indeed a risk that a political majority will arise with the power and will to pass hostile bills against LGBT people — trans people, especially.

Don't forget about queer muslims!

We would like to end this post with a reminder: queer Muslims do exist. Both in the Netherlands, and abroad.

Right now, queer Muslims and immigrants are at the intersection of two oppressions, but they're often absent from the public debate. As an anti-racist transfem organisation, we need to speak up and, whenever possible, step back and amplify their voices.

There's no such thing as an LGBT-friendly that speaks only for a (white and Dutch) subset of the community. If you advocate for gay rights without including Muslim and trans people from scratch, then maybe you're not as much a LGBT advocate as you are a white supremacist. No fash in our spaces!

Main (re)sources