Source: Radio Netherlands, Telegraph (London)

The most beautiful park in the center of Amsterdam has a colorful mixture of visitors, especially in the summer. Parents with children, inline skaters who display their tricks in front of the film museum, joggers, couples walking hand in hand and ... gay men cruising in the rose garden.

As dusk falls, the Vondelpark has been a regular meeting place for men looking for a short and uncomplicated sexual encounter since time immemorial. Now the Amsterdam police are causing commotion because they want gay men to stop hiding in the bushes and come out into the open.

Paul van Grieken, an Alderman in the Oud-Zuid district of the city, has startled many Amsterdammers, despite their famously liberal attitudes, with plans to allow public sex as part of this summer's new rules of conduct for the country's best-known park.

"Why should we try to impose something that is actually impossible to impose, which also causes little bother for others and for a certain group actually means much pleasure?", he said.

van Grieken stresses that his proposal to tolerate "cruising" gays, aimed at protecting homosexuals from violence, will have "strict rules attached".

"Thus, condoms must always be cleared away, it must never take place in the neighborhood of children's playgrounds and the sex must be restricted to the evening and night-time," he said.

The new park rules have the blessing of the Dutch police, who have urged all Dutch parks to follow Amsterdam's lead.

The Amsterdam proposal has been met with mixed reactions. Even parliament has got something to say about the issue. The leader of the parliamentary faction of the Christian Democrats, Pieter van Geel, fiercely opposes the plan. He is backed by the conservative Christian Union, which is totally against gay sex anyway, never mind in public. The Labour Party faction thinks it is mainly a problem for Amsterdam and is saying nothing. Opposition party VVD is irritated by the Christian Democrats' tendency to interfere in private matters. It thinks the Christian Democrats should stick to the issues they understand.

The Netherlands has dozens of parks and woodlands where gay men -- or, more appropriately, "men who have sex with men (MSM)" -- are at large  looking for a bit of hanky panky. Amsterdam's Vondelpark is one of the best known locations.

Randy men meet in the park's rose garden. Most Dutch people don't care, as long as the condoms are thrown away in the rubbish bin and the sexual activities stay out of the sight of the children. Up to now, the police would only intervene if gays were found cruising outside the rose garden, but even that did not have priority.

However, in the last three years violence against gays has increased. Gay bashing has become a growing problem, especially in Amsterdam. Teachers who are known to be gay are terrorized at schools. Gays and lesbians who walk hand in hand down the street can expect verbal or even physical abuse. In 2007, 20 gays were beaten up so badly that they had to go to hospital.

The Amsterdam police are taking the increasing violence seriously, and have turned to unorthodox methods to catch the perpetrators. One such measure is gay bait -- a police officer pretending to be a gay man. The method is a success.

Another is the proposal not to fine people having sex in public in the Vondelpark. The police say it would be easier to protect gays if they cuddle in public. A quickie in the bushes, for fear of being fined, makes them easy prey for their attackers.

But if cruising is to be allowed in the Vondelpark, there are other park users with a different wish.

The new park code of conduct will set out stiff fines for dogs that are allowed to run around the Vondelpark off the leash.

"Research showed that many people find this disturbing," said Mr van Grieken.

One dog owner protested, "As long as the park has existed, we've been allowed to let our dogs run freely. It's outrageous that we will be punished from now on but public sex won't. If they can drop their trousers, why can't I let my dog loose?"

Full article: Police get homosexuals out of the bushes | Radio Netherlands
Dutch to legalise gay sex in public park | Telegraph

area_europe