On Sunday, the Netherlands observed the International Coming Out Day, during which companies, municipalities, and other institutions across the country raise the rainbow flag and mark the occasion with events centered on openness about sexual orientation.
Image: Rainbow flags hanging from windows in Amsterdam – Credit: sashk0 / DepositPhotos – License: DepositPhotos
It will also be the first time the rainbow flag is displayed at the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament.
A recent LGBTQIA+ monitor by Movisie found that acceptance of homosexual and lesbian people has not risen in the last two years. Acceptance of transgender, non-binary, and intersex people has dropped slightly. Over 80 percent of the roughly 3,000 people surveyed said they accept homosexual and lesbian people. Additionally, the share of those uncomfortable with seeing two men kiss in public rose from a fifth in 2024 to a quarter in 2026.
“Attitudes toward homosxuality became increasingly positive for a long time. Although a large majority of people still accept homosexuality, we are now seeing for the first time that this upward trend is no longer continuing,” said Karijn van den Berg, senior researcher at Movisie.
Starting Saturday, many notable places have started displaying the rainbow flags in support of the community. In Groningen, alderman Mirjam Wijna is scheduled to raise it on the Martinitoren on Monday. Many town halls and public sites have raised flags on Sunday, including those in Hilversum, Zeeland, and Nieuwegein, among others.
In Oldebroek, on the other hand, the municipal council decided on Thursday that the rainbow flag may no longer be raised at the town hall. It was instead raised on Saturday at the Kruiskerk in Wezep, where Mayor Tanja Haseloop-Amsing attended.
“I am not only the chair of the board of mayor and aldermen,” she told Omroep Gelderland. “As a mayor, I am also an independent administrative body that must ensure that we in the village continue to get along reasonably well with one another. That there is administrative integrity.”
