Dutch Lesbian Couple Hides As Foster Son's Turkish Parents Demand Return

There may be an international incident brewing in The Hague, Netherlands, where a lesbian couple raising a Turkish foster son have gone into hiding to avoid returning the son to the biological parents from whose care he was ordered removed (pictured).

According to NPR, the 9 year-old boy, Yunus, was a baby living in The Netherlands with his Turkey-born parents when child services removed him from their care. Two other children were also meant to be removed but the parents took them back to Turkey before child services could intervene.

Now, as Turkish politicians rally against the concept of same-sex parents raising Muslim children, Yunus' parents are calling for his return, a call that comes just as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan prepares for an official trip to The Netherlands.

While hardliners back home want Erdogan to fight for Yunus' return, his government doesn't really want to get involved, particularly because Yunus' placement with the couple was an official child service's decision. From NPR:

Lodewijk Asscher, the Dutch vice prime minister, told reporters Friday that the issue is an internal Dutch matter and that political interference from Turkey is "inappropriate."

Child social services in The Hague said there was no specific threat against Yunus or his foster parents, but he has been kept home from school as a precaution since the interview aired.

The Hague Youth Services Agency has decided it is better for Yunus and his foster parents "to stay at another address for a time, partly in connection with the visit of the prime minister next week," spokeswoman Tanja van Dijk said in a telephone interview with national broadcaster NOS. "For safety, and also because of the quiet that both Yunus and his foster parents of course now need."

Asscher also praised the lesbian couple for raising a child that was "in danger" in his biological parents' care. "People who are willing to take care of somebody else's child deserve our admiration," he said.

Dutch Catholics Getting 'De-Baptized' To Protest Anti-Gay Pope

Thousands of Dutch Catholics have had enough of Pope Benedict's constant verbal attacks on gay people and are reportedly looking for a way to protest the homophobic pontiff by leaving the church all together.

Tom Roes, whose website allows people to download the documents needed to leave the Church, said traffic on ontdopen.nl – "de-baptize.nl" – had soared from about 10 visits a day to more than 10,000 after Pope Benedict’s latest denunciation of gay marriage this month.

"Of course it’s not possible to be ‘de-baptized’ because a baptism is an event, but this way people can unsubscribe or de-register themselves as Catholics," Roes told Reuters.

He said he did not know how many visitors to the site actually go ahead and leave the Church.

About 28 percent of the population in the Netherlands is Catholic and 18 percent is Protestant, while a much larger proportion – roughly 44 percent – is not religious, according to official statistics.

In addition to protesting homophobia in the church's ranks, Roes says he's also furious over the Vatican's sexual abuse cover-ups. Another group of activists performed similar "de-baptisms" in The Netherlands last year.

Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Blasts Pope's Anti-Gay Politics

Frans Timmermans is not amused by Pope Benedict's repeated attacks on gay people.

Speaking with RTL News, the Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister wondered how the Pope and his pals at the Vatican claim to respect everyone's uniqueness while simultaneously trying to squash sexual diversity.

"If every person is unique... then why should that unique person not have the right to stand up for their own sexual orientation?" said Timmermans. "Why can Romeo marry Julia but not Julius? Marriage between two people of the same sex is having respect for the uniqueness of the individual."

Of course, in the Vatican's eyes, sex is not so much about the individuals (married male and females, naturally) involved as it is about the individual is could - and they say should - create.

Dutch Caribbean Island Saba Legalizes Marriage Equality

Though The Netherlands approved marriage equality in 2001, they gave their various island municipalities more time to overcome local opposition. One of those islands, Saba, managed to do just that: officials held their first same-sex marriage there earlier this month, and it seems more are on the way.

From the Washington Post:

A speck of an island in the Dutch Caribbean has become increasingly popular with gay couples after legislators legalized same-sex marriages in a region still openly hostile to gays and lesbians.

Two men were recently married in Saba, marking the first ceremony of its kind in the region and setting off a frenzy of calls from gay couples in other Dutch Caribbean islands seeking to marry, said Julietta Woods with Saba’s Civil Registry office.”People keep calling me every second,” she said by telephone this week.
…
While Saba currently stands alone in approving same-sex marriages, Bonaire and St. Eustatius are expected to follow.
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The other Dutch Caribbean islands of St. Maarten, Curacao and Aruba have to recognize same-sex marriages but don’t have to legalize them because they have a more autonomous relationship with the Netherlands.

The paper reports France's Caribbean holdings Martinique and Guadeloupe are going to debate the matter as French authorities lay the groundwork for equality there.

Beautiful 'Everyone is Different' Dutch PSA Highlights Challenges, Promotes Acceptance of LGBT Youth: VIDEO

A beautiful PSA for a Dutch LGBT youth support group highlights the challenges faced by LGBT youth, telling the stories of several kids as they struggle to find acceptance among their peers while facing the individual realizations that they are, and can be different.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Wat

The Netherlands Halts Deportation Of Illegal LGBT Iraqi Immigrants

It's too bad this is news, and not standard policy everywhere: The Dutch government, recognizing that to be an out gay person in Iraq is to abide in mortal danger, has elected to grant blanket asylum to all illegal LGBT Iraqi immigrants. 

From Radio Netherlands Worldwide:

Koen van Dijk of the Dutch gay rights organisation COC described the announcement as an important victory for Iraqis who had fled the country because of their sexual orientation. According to van Dijk, Iraq is the most dangerous country in the world for gay people: “Research has shown that 750 people have been murdered for this reason since 2003. There are systematic campaigns. Organised militias publicly declare that they’re hunting down people who exhibit ‘deviant’ behaviour and should be killed according to Islamic law.”

LGBT Iraqis will have to somehow "prove" that they're L, G, B, or T to remain in the Netherlands, which van Djik frankly admits will be a tricky business. Other countries have royally screwed up attempts to make similar determinations. The Dutch being the Dutch, it's reasonable to hope they will endeavor to err on the side of mercy and sanity.