The Anti-Gender Movement in the Netherlands: W(h)ither Tolerance?

The Netherlands is often seen as a beacon of sexual tolerance and diversity. Even far-right parties have traditionally refrained from challenging norms of equality and non-discrimination, embracing a homonationalist discourse instead (Mepschen & Duyvendak 2012; Spierings 2021). A liberal attitude towards gender and sexuality may even be constitutive of Dutch national identity (Kešić & Duyvendak, 2019). It therefore seems unsurprising that the burgeoning literature on anti-gender politics pays barely any attention to the Dutch case. While campaigns against ‘gender ideology’ have diffused across Europe and beyond (Kuhar & Paternotte, 2017), the Netherlands appears to be an inhospitable environment for anti-gender politics. This article provides an important corrective to this narrative of Dutch tolerance. It charts the emergence of the anti-gender movement in the Netherlands at the level of civil society and party politics. The article pays particular attention to two exponents of this movement: (1) Civitas Christiana, a foundation that was created in 2014 and that belongs to the international movement of Tradition, Family, Property (Datta, 2018; Power, 2010); and (2) Forum for Democracy, a far-right political party that has made resistance to ‘gender ideology’ and ‘LGBTI propaganda’ a core part of its platform. The article shows how these actors have succeeded in politicizing gender and sexuality, calling into question “Dutch sexual exceptionalism” (Bracke, 2011).