Can YOU Put A Queer Timeline in Order?!

If you were asked to reconstruct a timeline of LGBTQIA2S+ events in the Netherlands, how would you fare?!

CIEE Queer Life and Activism Instructor Katie Poltz put students to the test on Wednesday. Using little slips of paper and a whole lot of classroom discussion, students did their best to organize a whopping 37 historical and/or queer Dutch events in chronological order.

To their credit, they guessed correctly about half of the time, but some of the answers came as surprises--especially in the context of what we knew about the U.S.! Students later had the chance to put their newly learned trivia into context via two dynamic walking tours through downtown Amsterdam (see photos above).

Try your hand at the following eight events: match the queer event with the year in which you think it took place in the Netherlands. You may find yourself just as surprised as the students.

Correct answers at the bottom of the blog post. (Idea courtesy of Katie.)

Matching Game

Years: a.) 1811 b.) 1927 c.) 1946 d.) 1993 e.) 1996 f.) 2001 g.) 2006 h.) 2013 i.) 2020 j.) 2021

EVENTS: 1.) first Black Pride held in the Netherlands

2.) The COC (oldest LGBTQ+ organization in the world!) formed

3.) Dutch government deports LGBTQ+ immigrants, until public outcry prompts them to permit their return

4.) same sex marriage legalized in the Netherlands, the first country in the world to do so

5.) the right to change legal gender without surgery is granted

6.) oldest gay bar in the Netherlands is established

7.) homosexuality is decriminalized in the Netherlands

8.) first Gay Pride Parade held in the Netherlands

9.) The Dutch Equal Treatment Act bans discrimination on the basis of sexuality

10.) MSMs in monogamous relationships no longer need a deferral in order to donate blood

ANSWER KEY: 1) i 2) c 3) g 4) f 5) h 6) b 7) a 8) e 9) d 10) J

Post author: C.B.