Stories from Utrecht’s queer history

Flying leaf (fragment) released at the execution of three sodomites in Delft, 24 July 1730.

Sodomites as scapegoats

The sodomite persecution of 1730 marked a turning point because the ‘silent sin’ was no longer hidden from the general public.

Session of the Fifth International Congress of Criminal Anthropology in the auditorium of the University of Amsterdam, September 1901

From sodomite to homosexual

In the 19th century, not only the police was busy with men having sex with men, a whole procession of experts were looking for explanations for deviant sexual behaviour.

Memorial stone for the sodomite persecution, placed in 1999 on the Dom square in Utrecht in front of the WWII monument.

Utrecht's memorial plaque for the sodomy trials

Immediately after the liberation, monuments were erected all over the Netherlands that reminded of the Second World War.

Nieuwekade in 1967

Utrecht victims of 248bis

It is no longer possible to retrieve how many gay men and lesbian women in Utrecht have fallen victim to art. 248bis of the Criminal Code, but it must have been hundreds.

Sobrinobar in 1986, een jaar voor de sluiting.

1949-1979 Changing times

Following the example of the church, science and government, most Dutch people in the post-war period regarded homosexuality as a sin, disease or crime.

Hunger cloth by Rev. Jan Haen and the Association of Catholic Gay Pastors (WKHP), 1987

LGBTQIA+ Christians in Utrecht City

In Utrecht the relationship between the Christian faith and homosexuality changed from the 1950s onwards. Activists demanded acceptance and organized demonstrations.

Cover of Mannen die ‘anders’ zijn. Oorspronkelijke realistische roman (Men who are 'different'. Original realistic novel) by Jan Brandts published in 1963 by publisher Orion in Amsterdam.

’The Tragedy of a Human Life’

In the 1963 ‘realistic novel’ Men Who Are ‘Different’, the author uses the 1960s setting of Utrecht to make the story as realistic as possible.

Atalanta, homepage website

Atalanta

Around 1980, Rymke Wiersma and Weia Reinboud started the Atalanta printing and publishing house in Utrecht. They thus created a platform for spreading “nice philosophy”.

En toen, nieuwsbrief van het Lesbisch Archief Utrecht

Lesbian Archive Utrecht

The Lesbian Archive Utrecht was founded in 1982, following the example of Leeuwarden, Amsterdam and Nijmegen.

Janjob Remmers

Pearl Days

Utrecht organist Janjob Remmers (1956-1994) lived with AIDS for four years. Some parts of his mother’s diary from that time.