A Quiet Pioneer in Dutch Politics
Coos Huijsen, a former Dutch politician who is widely regarded as the world's first openly gay member of parliament, has died at the age of 87. His family confirmed he passed away at home after a short illness, with his husband, Lank Bos, by his side.
Huijsen's defining moment came in 1976. After a brief earlier stint in parliament, he was sworn in again to take up a vacant seat as an independent. In a quiet but powerful act for the time, he attended the ceremony with his partner, Lank Bos, whom he had met in 1973. This was his public coming out, a significant step in an era when homosexuality was still a major taboo, especially in the formal world of politics. It stood in contrast to his earlier career, when he had denied rumors about his sexuality.
An Unconventional Path
His political journey was unconventional. He was first elected in 1972 for the Christelijk-Historische Unie (CHU), a conservative protestant party that later merged into the modern CDA. He broke with the party just six months later over a political disagreement. After his term as an independent ended in 1977, he joined the centre-left Labour Party (PvdA), though he never returned to a seat in the Tweede Kamer.
Politics was only one chapter of Huijsen's life. Before and after his time in The Hague, he was dedicated to education, working as a history teacher and later as the director of the Gerrit van der Veen College in Amsterdam until 1998. He was also a prolific writer, authoring books on socialism and, after his teaching career, becoming a respected expert on the Dutch Royal House, earning a PhD on the subject in 2012.
A Lifetime of Advocacy
Huijsen remained an active voice for the community long after leaving office. In 2007, he co-founded Het Blauwe Fonds, a foundation dedicated to supporting gay emancipation projects. He documented his unique experiences in his 2016 memoir, Homo politicus. An updated version, titled Roze Draad. Strijd, succes en stilstand in vijftig jaar homo-emancipatie (Pink Thread: Struggle, success and stagnation in fifty years of gay emancipation), was released earlier this year, ensuring his perspective on five decades of progress and challenges was shared with a new generation.
