"As long as you don't make it too obvious, there is no real problem being homosexual in the Dutch army" says Major Peter Kees Hamstra, chairman of the Homosexuality and Armed Forces Foundation. 
Radio Netherlands Worldwide asked him to write a piece about his response to the proposition: gays in the Dutch army, no problem.

It would be nice if I could answer with an outright 'yes' but it's more complicated than that...
Happily, you can in general function perfectly well in the Dutch military as a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person but it wasn't always that way. Up until the 1970s there was a ban on homosexuality.

Kissing in public
Even after that there was still a great deal that needed doing. In the late 1970s a homosexuality working party was set up in order to make it possible to discuss the issue. The aim was to increase acceptance and create a safe working environment. However, they failed to get a proper foothold at senior levels of the defence ministry. A number of working party members then set up Homosexuality and Armed Forces as a foundation in 1987.

Research carried out in recent years shows that acceptance of homosexuals has increased from 50 percent in the early 1990s to 90 percent. However, it's worth noting that as gays, lesbians and transgender people have become more visible, kissing in public for example, acceptance has suddenly tapered off.
A new policy has been adopted within the armed forces: discrimination is not allowed and training courses have to focus attention on the subject of homosexuality.

Pink Saturday
It is now possible for the foundation to become much more visible and to act as a role model. These days our organisation takes part in Pink Saturday, for instance, and has sailed in the Gay Pride Canal Parade twice. What has also been fruitful is collaboration with the Company Pride Platform, pink networks at other ministries, other uniformed government services and AFMP the military trade union.

We have been asked for our commentary by foreign media and an international working party has now been set up with other NATO member states - a coalition of the willing, as it were. The aim is to involve more and more countries and eventually become a formal sub-committee within NATO.

Don't Ask Don't Tell
In May we were asked by the University of Denver's Palm Centre and the Brookings Institute to take part in the Brookings Summit, the theme of which was the US army's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy.

The symposium made it clear that in the six participating countries homosexuality does not cause problems relating to operational deployment and group cohesion. In the United States they are afraid it could have a negative effect on operations. Knowledge and experience have shown this fear is completely ungrounded.

The SHK hopes the ban on homosexuality will soon be lifted in the US army too. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people must have the right to serve openly in the armed forces. This will benefit both the organisation and the people. Our motto is: "Gay rights are human rights".