In
the
week
following
the
violent
attack
in
Amsterdam
on
my
boyfriend
and
me
by
seven
men
angry
that
we
were
holding
hands,
the
Dutch
media
have
focused
a
tremendous
amount
of
attention
on
the
assault.
In
a
20-minute
story
on
Holland’s
answer
to
“60
Minutes,”
and
in
radio
and
newspaper
reports
in
newspapers,
and
on
countless
news
and
blog
sites,
the
gay-friendly
Dutch
have
struggled
to
place
the
attack
in
a
broader
context.
Was
it
an
isolated
incident
or
the
latest
in
a
series
that
suggests
a
changing
climate
in
the
Netherlands
that
no
longer
fits
the
country’s
legendary
reputation
as
open
and
tolerant
toward
all?
Particularly
incendiary
has
been
my
description
of
our
attackers
as
having
“Moroccan-like
features”
and
accents.
I
was
generally
aware
of
tension
over
immigration
policies
in
Holland,
but
of
the
more
than
700
messages
I’ve
received,
roughly
half
have
focused
almost
exclusively
on
the
assumed
cultural
and
religious
heritage
of
our
attackers
and
the
dangers
many
native
Dutch
feel
from
their
version
of
the
“Culture
Wars”
we
have
fought
in
the
U.S.
for
years.
The
other
half
of
the
messages
dealt
instead
with
the
anti-gay
motivation
of
our
attackers
and
urged
my
boyfriend
and
me
to
return
to
Amsterdam,
and
to
hold
hands
in
the
street
without
fear.
We
have
been
touched
more
than
we
can
say
by
this
show
of
support,
from
abroad
and
at
home.
All
of
the
messages
were
sympathetic
and
some
dealt
with
the
cultural
conflict
in
a
thoughtful,
careful
manner.
But
many
Dutch
residents
were
particularly
blunt
in
their
disgust
for
the
changes
they
see
in
their
country.
“This
kind
of
behavior
is
exactly
why
the
Dutch
would
like
to
see
the
Moroccans
go
back
home
rather
sooner
than
later,”
wrote
one
woman
in
a
typical
message.
“Because
they
are
miles
apart
from
Dutch
culture.”
“You
seem
to
think
that
those
Moroccans
only
hate
gay
people?”
wrote
a
resident
of
Leiden,
near
Amsterdam.
“Forget
it!
They
hate
everyone
who
isn’t
Moroccan.
For
years
our
government
is
telling
us
to
be
tolerant,
to
try
to
understand
‘our
new
Dutch.’
This
is
where
it
leads.”
Andrew
Sullivan
kindly
helped
spread
initial
word
about
the
attack
on
his
eponymous
blog,
and
like
many
others
couched
the
Dutch
Culture
Wars
in
explicit
religious
terms.
“Hatred
of
open
and
proud
homosexuals
is
intrinsic
to
Islamist
fundamentalism,
as
it
is
to
Christian
fundamentalism,”
he
wrote.
“The
struggle
against
both
is
the
same
one
—
at
home
and
abroad.”
Scott
Long,
director
of
the
Lesbian,
Gay,
Bisexual
&
Transgender
Program
at
the
Human
Rights
Watch,
also
blamed
the
attack
in
part
on
“global
fundamentalism”
—
mainly
U.S.
televangelist
Pat
Robertson
and
the
new
Catholic
pope.
He
went
on
to
claim
our
assault
was
the
natural
response
of
a
Muslim
minority
routinely
discriminated
against
by
native
Dutch.
“There’s
still
an
extraordinary
degree
of
racism
in
Dutch
society,”
Long
said
in
an
interview
with
PlanetOut.
“Gays
often
become
the
victims
of
this
when
immigrants
retaliate
for
the
inequities
that
they
have
to
suffer.”
MY
OWN
VIEW
is
that
many
of
our
well-intentioned
supporters
are
approaching
the
underlying
cause
of
hate
violence
in
fundamentally
misguided
ways.
Long,
in
particular,
only
fans
the
flames
of
hate
by
blaming
our
attack
on
Dutch
society,
which
has
enacted
the
most
progressive
gay
laws
in
the
world,
for
producing
an
anti-gay
attack.
There
was
no
racist
component
to
our
attack,
as
he
implies.
Our
attackers
would
have
reacted
at
least
as
viciously
to
two
men
of
their
own
ethnicity
who
walked
the
street
as
lovers.
Long’s
brand
of
“blame
the
society”
political
correctness
is
a
distraction
from
the
very
real
cultural
clashes
happening
in
Holland
and
elsewhere.
In
his
role
at
Human
Rights
Watch,
Long
has
no
business
being
an
apologist
for
hate,
and
for
the
bias-motivated
violence
it
produces.
It’s
also
too
easy
to
point
the
finger
at
America’s
favorite
target
—
fundamentalist
Islam.
We
were
walking
back
to
our
hotel
room
in
the
wee
hours
on
Saturday
morning
through
a
street
full
of
holiday
revelers.
Our
attackers
were
not
on
the
corner
for
morning
prayers.
I
do
not
mean
to
discount
the
influence
of
religion
on
culture.
I
grew
up
in
the
American
South,
where
fundamentalist
Christianity
provided
aid
and
comfort
for
the
racist
oppression
of
blacks
and
continues
to
rally
opposition
to
equality
for
gays.
But
the
contribution
of
religion
here
is
more
indirect,
and
I’m
not
sure
much
can
be
accomplished
with
non-Muslims
blaming
a
faith
about
which
we
are
mostly
ignorant
for
the
culture
we
think
it
has
produced.
Life
in
a
multicultural
society
means
accepting
that
others
will
not
share
our
religious
beliefs
and
that
no
one
group
should
lay
claim
to
representing
“normal
society,”
demanding
all
others
succumb.
THE
DUTCH
CULTURE
Wars
should
not
be
fought
by
shutting
down
the
borders
or
by
using
the
law
to
silence
those
who
do
not
share
the
country’s
tradition
of
tolerance.
Those
are
the
arm-twisting
tactics
of
the
cultural
conservatives
who
control
the
majority
party
here
in
the
U.S.
If
we
really
believe
our
own
rhetoric
—
about
freedom
of
thought
and
tolerance
of
other
cultures
and
values
—
then
the
best
response
is
more
openness
and
more
speech,
not
less.
Too
often
those
who
advocate
for
openness
and
tolerance
get
dismissed
as
soft-headed
or
naive,
and
they
can
be.
Some
Dutch
media
have
purposefully
ignored
the
cultural
conflict
that
played
a
role
in
our
attack
...
