Samenvatting

Until this day the Dutch culture has been stereotyped as easy-going, mild, open and very tolerable. The tolerated use of marihuana and gay-parades make the Netherlands seem as an open minded country. But times have changed. Everyday this country is becoming more multicultural and it changes in its identity. In this research the question is whether the acceptation of homosexuals in the Netherlands has changed over the years as well. The institute Programma Politie en Wetenschap [Programme Police and Science] ordered a research on violence against homosexuals which resulted in a report in February 2006 (Van San, De Boom, 2006). It concluded that there was a great lack of empirical information on the number of crimes committed against homosexuals. The research could only be based on the response of 776 homosexuals and some other sources. The researchers came to the conclusion that there was a great need for better registration of violence specifically aimed at homosexuals. (Van San, De Boom, 2006, p. 77)
Now, two years later, an inventory can be made of the changes after the serious recommendations of the report on anti-homosexual violence in the Netherlands. Questions about governmental response and what efforts have been made since then, can be answered now in 2008 [...]