Wednesday 14 February 2007

Is this going too far? (3)

As I wrote earlier, there were plans that a group of young gay boys and girls (between the ages of 11 and 16) would participate in this year's Amsterdam gay pride. After the plan was made public by a 14 1/2 year old boy who took the initiative there have been lots of discussions in the newspapers and on TV whether this is a good idea or not. In the process, the 14 1/2 year old guy called Danny became a national celebrity as he (and his parents) appeared on many TV talk shows. Danny has a website at http://www.dannysparade.nl/

In the end, it was decided that the teenagers will participate in the gay parade under the following conditions:
- parents will have to express consent that their children participate
- parents will join the boys and girls on the boats (Amsterdam's gay pride is a floating parade)
- there will be no nudity or sexually explicit scenes on the boat and on any other boats close to the teenager's boat.

I have seen Danny on TV and I must say that he seemed very mature and that he had good arguments why he wants to participate. But still I have mixed feelings. Conservative sections of society may use the young teen's participation to link homosexuality and pedofilia.

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