A club for homosexuals

ROY PERROTT

REPRINTED FROM THE OBSERVER (LONDON)

A meeting-place not only where homosexuals gather openly but to which they are directed by the police-this may sound unbelievable to English people but it exists in Holland, as Roy Perrott tells.

HOLLAND HAS LONG BEEN ONE of the more tolerant European countries in her attitude to homosexuals, at least as far as the law is concerned. In permitting homosexual relations between consenting adults in private and allowing inverts all legitimate freedom consistent with public decency Holland's attitude is broadly similar to that of Belgium, France, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Italy.

But there is one feature probably more advanced than any. This is a large-scale club organisation run by homosexual men and women for other homosexuals. It has established close and mutually helpful co-operation with the police and a number of outside social organisations. In its 16 years of existence, though by no means all its hopes and aims have been realised, it has gathered a unique body of practical experience on helping the homosexual to accept himself and his situation and to adjust sensibly to society as it is, however unsympathetic its disciplines may seem to him.

The organisation is called the Cultuuren Ontspanningcentrum (C.O.C. for short), which in translation emerges somewhat inadequately as "Centre for Culture and Recreation." It began in 1946 as a discussion group with fewer than 100 members. Feeling the need for more scope, the members asked police permission to open permanent premises in Amsterdam, and this was granted so long as they were decently conducted and no one under 21 and no homosexual prostitutes were admitted.

WIDE SOCIAL RANGE

The C.O.C. has grown rapidly since. It now has just over 4,000 members-1,600 in Amsterdam and branches in Rotterdam, The Hague,

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Utrecht, Groningen, Arnheim and Eindhoven. From the start, lesbian women have been eligible to join and they now total 500 members. The whole organisation is governed by a national board of 10 mem bers, though the final say is with an annual delegate conference. Membership costs £2 8s. a year and covers a wide social range from the artisan class to leading professional men and women, though the middle-income white-collar worker is probably most strongly represented. The general administrative headquarters, in one of Am sterdam's main streets, has a permanent office staff of four. The main club premises consist of dance-floor, bar and meeting rooms. The social activities include discussion groups, play-reading and music circles, and expert lectures, most of which, of course, relate to the special problems of membership.

The guiding spirit of the club is its chief officer since 1948, Mr. Bob Angelo (a pseudonym employed because he often appears under his real name as an actor on Dutch television). A small, undemonstrative man, he impresses visitors with his combination of idealism and hard sense. He has defined C.O.C.'s aim as: "The promotion of humane judgment and treatment of homosexuality; the giving of psychological, moral and legal assistance against prejudice and and harmful legal codes; and the discouragement of homosexual prostitution."

WITHOUT FURTIVENESS

C.O.C.'s philosophy rests on the same basis as that which both Wolfenden and the Church of England Moral Welfare Council have accepted as essential. The homosexual, it says, must be allowed to integrate himself into the wider community as himself, accepting his own nature (how abstinent or active he is thereafter remains, of course, his own decision). Only in this way can he adjust himself tolerably to the social disciplines and get the same chance of personal development as other people have. "I want my friends to lose their cynicism," Angelo says.

Club members are helped towards adjustment in several ways. The fact that they can meet their fellows without furtiveness, and in decent social surroundings, is perhaps the biggest single relief from tension. The club has a panel of five psychiatrists (who give their services free); it can also call on the help of a number of sympathetic pastors and priests. Since Holland is a much more actively religious country than Britain, spiritual conflicts loom relatively large in the lives of Dutch homosexuals. The road to self-acceptance for many can be as stony as it is in countries with a less amenable law.

Some of the more practical lessons in adjustment are acquired at the expert-guided discussion groups. How, for instance, can the homosexual be "himself" and fit into a job? The view here is that, if it can be managed, it is best for him not to conceal his nature for

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