Hans van der Kamp

I am finished uploading the photographs of the Hartjesdagen 2007 to the new Gallery. The selection is not as tight as I had wished, due to the fact that some people asked for specific pictures, so I posted a wider range hoping that I am not leaving anybody out. A planned series of 60 became one of 122 instead.

It was a happy day in Amsterdam and I am exhausted. So much to see! My brain CCD suffers from serious overload problems. Why is that we have males and females in our society while everything in between is so challenging?

Instead of being a good boy and posting all my stuff in the Hartjesdagen Gallery I think I will wait until I have fully digested this visual extravaganza.

Recently I considered leaving Amsterdam to swap an expensive life for a modest life in the country where I could have enough studio space and a dog to take for a walk, but today I have changed my mind. Instead of moving I will take better care of the dog inside of me.

I am really not sure how I should translate the Dutch word “Hartjesdagen”. Literally it would be: “Days of the (small) hearts”, but I am probably missing out on something. It is just a guess, but I have the idea that the word “hartjes” was originally meant as “hertjes” — or small deer. That would make sense because this Dutch festivity dates back to the days when the poor in Amsterdam and surrounding cities were allowed free hunting rights on the third Monday of August.

The celebrations that came with it were noted for alcohol abuse and sexual extremities. Of course the hunts have long disappeared, but a few years ago Amsterdam’s Red Light District rediscovered the celebrations. Every year this event — just after Gay Pride — gets more interesting, certainly for me because The Red Light District has always been my favorite part of the city. I simply adore the way this city has dealt with prostitution over the centuries. I got mugged twice in that area. Decades ago I was almost stabbed to death there and not too long ago a junkie threatened to bash my head in with a very large bicycle security lock if I would not hand over my wallet, but that does not prevent me from going there.

Today was the first day of the Hartjesdagen and I went out with my camera to have a wonderful time listening to tenors and sopranos singing from the windows (see picture below) and a street choir singing amazing songs about life in our infamous Red Light District. Afterwards I had a few drinks in a bar called “The Seagull” where the window seats are never taken, because most of the regulars there do not like to be “easy targets”.

But I will get some sleep now first and when I wake up tomorrow I will be photographing the traditional parade of Drag Queens. For me this is no doubt the most interesting weekend of the whole year.

Once I am done, I will be posting my photographs in this gallery.

I guess when a party lasts too long, it turns sour. Although the atmosphere in the city was still very good, it started to become very clear what this year’s theme was really about. Lately there has been a lot of debate about the increase of violence towards gays. This is rightfully brought to our attention as a reason for concern. Yesterday however it became quite clear that gay rights activists blame the mounting violence on the stronger influence of Islam on our society.

What a pity. Christians do not have a very good history when it comes to accepting gays or lesbians either. Tolerant behavior today seems to be completely out of fashion and this attitude is certainly not restricted to specific religious groups in society. “Christian” hooligans turn soccer matches into blood baths quite frequently. We the law abiding citizens have to pay for the armies of policemen to prevent that from happening every other weekend. Focusing all attention on Islam is asking for more trouble in an already very troubled society.

So I went around asking gays and lesbians what they thought of our right wing extremist Rita Verdonk and I could not find one person who was against her politics based on Islamaphobia. (Okay, it was not scientific research; I only asked about ten people, but still..)

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to introduce gay marriage and our politicians can say out loud that they are gay without losing votes; now that is an accomplishment to be really proud of. Many Islamic religious representatives in our country have strongly condemned violence towards gays and that is very hopeful.

In the 1970s gay bashing was a much more common phenomenon than it is today. I was working as a volunteer for the COC (our main gay rights foundation) at that time and I was often sent out to talk to representatives of the police departments to remind them that gays and lesbians had rights too and that police officers should not look the other way when a gay person was beaten up by a group of moronic youngsters who thought they represented the better half of society.

In 1973 I was beaten up on train station for kissing a male friend on the cheek. I know what they are talking about and experiences like that can haunt you for the rest of your life, but most of the violence that we define as gay bashing takes place in cruising zones or parks after midnight. I have nothing against cruising zones; it is a nice opportunity to pick up partners if you only have sex in mind, but walking your dog as a heterosexual senior citizen in these same areas is quite dangerous too.

As a rule adolescents are most likely to participate in gay bashing. 30 years ago these adolescents came from villages belonging to an area we now refer to as our Bible Belt. Today maybe 60-80% of these same groups of adolescents are Muslims, but they act identical to their Christian predecessors. We solved that old problem through education. For the new, identical problem, we apparently need different, more harsh solutions. That sounds pretty stupid to me. Let me express my sincere hope that gay activists will not permanently join the fast growing league of Islamaphobes.