COC Nederland
COC Nederland (officially: Nederlandse Vereniging voor Integratie van Homoseksualiteit COC (NVIH - COC)) is the most important organization for LGBT rights in the Netherlands . The seat of the association is in Amsterdam .
The term COC initially stood for Cultuur en Ontspanningscentrum or Center for Culture and Leisure . The organization was founded in 1946 and is the oldest existing LGBT association in the world.
Since 2000, COC has divided its federal structures into 24 local subgroups, which are united at national level under the name Federatie van Nederlandse Verenigingen tot Integratie van Homoseksualiteit COC Nederland (Association of Dutch Associations for the Integration of Homosexuality COC Netherlands). In total, all sub-groups together have around 7,000 members. The chairman is Frank van Dalen .
activities
The local groups focus their activities within their region. They offer personal help, information and events where homosexual people can meet. At the national level, the COC is involved in political lobbying (topics: homosexuality, upbringing, equality). The COC also publishes the Expreszo magazine to make it easier for young homosexual people to come out .
COC also works internationally, especially in various Eastern European and Central Asian countries, where he is involved.
history
On December 7, 1946, the Shakespeare Club was founded in Amsterdam. The founders were some gay men who got involved in the magazine Levensrecht ( right of life ). This magazine was founded a few months before the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940 and reappeared after the Second World War. In 1949, the Shakespeare Club was renamed the Cultuures Ontspanningscentrum (COC). In the beginning, the organization was headed by Bob Angelo, (pseudonym of Niek Engelschman ).
The goals of COC were, on the one hand, social emancipation of society and enabling a culture and infrastructure for the community . The aim was also to reform Article 248-bis in Wetboek van Strafrecht (Dutch Criminal Code). This former paragraph made same-sex contact between 16 and 21 years a criminal offense and allowed sentences of up to one year in prison. On the other hand, the age of consent for heterosexual people was 16 years.
In the first few years of its existence, the Dutch authorities had the Shakespears Club and the COC under surveillance. The association expanded to The Hague , Rotterdam and later to Utrecht and Arnhem .
In other Dutch cities such as Groningen , Leeuwarden and Eindhoven , the first steps of the association initially met resistance from the local authorities.
An important consequence of the activities of the COC in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century was the emergence of a subculture of bars and discos ; previously in the prewar period, homosexual people had to meet in parks, on the streets or in public toilets.
In 1962 Benno Premsela took over the management of the COC from Bob Angelo . With the new management, COC became better known to the public; Also visible in the change in the association's name: from Cultuur- en Ontspanningscentrum to Nederlands Vereniging voor Homofielen COC (Dutch Association for Homophiles COC) . For the first time it was clearly shown that it was an association of homosexual people.
In the 1970s, homosexuality became increasingly accepted in Dutch society. In 1971 Article 248 was reformed and in 1973 the COC was officially registered. Since 1971 the name of the association Nederlandse Vereniging voor Integratie van Homoseksualiteit COC .
In addition to the COC, other LGBT associations emerged in the Netherlands in the 1970s . COC lost its influence in the community and focused its work primarily on politics.
In the 1980s, AIDS became a main topic of the association and the COC became the contact point for the Dutch government.
However, the opening of marriage to homosexual couples in the Netherlands in the 1990s is more thanks to Gay Krant . Until the mid 1990s, the COC tended to take the position that marriage as an institution should be rejected.
