COC Haaglanden fully supports the statement given by the national chairman of COC Netherlands, Astrid Oosenbrug.

Below is the statement from COC Netherlands.

Orthodox Protestant declaration is harmful and merciless

January 6 201

COC Netherlands finds the orthodox Protestant 'Nashville statement' harmful and merciless. On January 5, it appeared that about 250 orthodox Protestant ministers, pastors and prominent figures in the Netherlands had signed this anti-LGBTI statement.

“It is a harmful document for orthodox Protestant LGBTI people and a merciless and insensitive action by the signatories,” said COC chairman Astrid Oosenbrug. Oosenbrug calls on Orthodox Protestants not to sign the statement.

In Nashville Statement on sexuality, masculinity and femininity, it states that it is sinful to accept homosexuality and being transgender and rejects marriage between same-sex couples.

Whereas in recent years there has been a slow but certain emancipation of LGBTI people in large parts of Protestant-Christian Netherlands, this document is a step back.

For example, according to the statement, it is "contrary to God's holy intentions" to be homosexual or transgender are. Until now, the view in orthodox Protestant circles has often been that you are allowed to be homosexual or transgender. are, but that you are not allowed to put it into practice. With this statement, LGBTI people are sent back into the closet.

Also, the statement gives the impression that homosexual feelings can be changed, or in the words of the Nashville statement can be "killed." Numerous studies have shown that homosexuality cannot be changed with therapies or treatments and that such treatments are extremely harmful. The identity of transgender people could also be changed, according to the statement.

According to newspaper Trouw the Nashville Declaration has now been signed about 250 times in the Netherlands by pastors, pastors and prominent figures. The signatories also include SGP leader Kees van der Staaij, SGP senator Diederik van Dijk and prominent Baptist pastor Orlando Bottenbley, who was the Christian Union's list pusher in the last parliamentary elections.

The COC calls on SGP and ChristenUnie to distance themselves from the statement