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Amsterdam park unveils signs pointing to gay cruisers

Dutch News

29/04/2009Amsterdam park unveils signs pointing to gay cruisers

The De Oeverlanden park in Slotervaart will have information signs pointing out spots where gay men are known to have sex.

THE HAGUE – A park near Amsterdam unveiled Tuesday information signs pointing out spots where officials say gay men are known to have sex -- so no visitors are taken by surprise.

The signs "clearly indicate what is happening in each zone; also those where gay men are known to practice 'cruising'," municipal spokeswoman Manon Koffijberg told AFP.

Cruising is a slang word used to describe the act of trawling for casual sex.

"If you don't want to be confronted by a vision of that sort, the signs allow you to avoid specific areas," said Koffijberg.

The De Oeverlanden park in Slotervaart, southwest of Amsterdam, is known as a place where homosexuals from all over the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe go in search of sex partners.

Koffijberg said that while having sex in public was against the law, the park has been used for this purpose for so long that it has become "gedoog", a Dutch word for tolerating unwanted behaviour.

The sexual activities of cruisers, she said, kept mostly to the bushes in the park, and the new signs sought to ensure that they stayed there.

"There are various groups of users of the park; people with small children who bathe on the beaches, those who walk their dogs, gays cruising and nature lovers," said Koffijberg.

"Things are arranged so that each group can relax in their own area without intruding on each other."

There had been recent complaints of gay bashing in the Slotervaart area, populated by a large group of immigrants of Muslim origin, with reports of robberies and violence against gay men in De Oeverlanden park.

AFP / Expatica

8 reactions to this article

adyv posted: 2009-04-29 11:06:29

The Dutch!

SusanT posted: 2009-04-29 11:36:21

Almost laughable that signs now point out specifically where cruisers are...for more bruising.

Perhaps planners should just incorporate an all-gay park in every city, and an all-family park, and an all-women park...

Doormat posted: 2009-04-29 13:46:45

Reminds me of the Harry Enfield characters "The Dutch Police" where tackling crime was just to legalise it :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRfluaMKoOY

Only in Holland !

Voodoo Doll posted: 2009-04-29 20:48:03

Please another buch of bull... Why should people have to tolerate people having sex in public if it is not legal??? they call it tolerance but it is just apathy...
is this really the answer to gay bashing???? Signs will stop those gay bashers sure...hmmmmm scratching my head. If this is NL's answere to gay bashing we got a problem

SusanT posted: 2009-04-30 11:52:20

And an all-Muslim park, too, lest we forget integration... I don't want to see people having sex in public, can barely stand it when the dogs go at it! Keep our parks sex-free...that's what your backyard is for!

Voodoo Doll posted: 2009-04-30 19:21:25

HEE HEE HEE SusanT I hear ya! I suppose the parks are now for sex and dog poop, a pity really

wondercat posted: 2009-05-01 10:04:01

What I am not getting is that if you are gay why are you having sex in a park??!? In Amsterdam there are plenty of gay sex clubs surely? Perhaps the government have started taxing the people for the use of the park. They like to tax everything else, a "gay cruising tax" heh

SusanT posted: 2009-05-01 13:16:53

Good idea, the cruising tax. If one needs a license to fish, why not a license to fuck in the great outdoors?

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