On 7 December 1946, the "Shakespeareclub" was founded in Amsterdam. The founders were a number of gay men who were active with "Levensrecht" (Right To Live), This magazine was founded a few months before the
German invasion in 1940, and re-appeared after the
war. The Shakespeareclub was renamed in 1949 to "Cultuur- en Ontspanningscentrum" (C.O.C.). From its beginning in 1946 until 1962, the chairman was Bob Angelo, a pseudonym of
Niek Engelschman. The goals of the C.O.C. were twofold: they wanted to contribute to social emancipation, and also wanted to offer culture and recreation for gay men and lesbian women. The social emancipation focused on getting article 248bis in the (the main code for Dutch criminal law) revoked. This 1911 article made sexual contact with someone of the same sex between 16 and 21 years old punishable by up to one year imprisonment. For heterosexuals, the age of consent was 16. In the first years the authorities kept an eye on the Shakespearclub and the C.O.C.. Despite this, it expanded to
The Hague and
Rotterdam, and after that to
Utrecht and
Arnhem. In other cities such as
Groningen,
Leeuwarden and
Eindhoven attempts by homosexuals to organize met with resistance from the local authorities. An important consequence of the activities of the C.O.C. in the 1950s and 1960s was the emergence of a subculture with bars and dances, as opposed to the pre-war situation where homosexuals mainly met in parks, on the streets and in public urinals. In 1962
Benno Premsela took over from Bob Angelo. With the new chairman, the C.O.C. became more public; evident for example in their name change in 1964: The "Cultuur- en Ontspanningscentrum" became the "Nederlandse Vereniging voor Homofielen COC" (Dutch Association for Homophiles COC); for the first time making clear it was an organization for homosexuals. In the 1970s homosexuality was more broadly accepted. The resistance from churches, the medical community and society in general diminished. This resulted in article 248-bis being revoked in 1971, and the official recognition of the COC in 1973. Since 1971 the COC's full name was "Nederlandse Vereniging voor Integratie van Homoseksualiteit COC" (Dutch Association for Integration of Homosexuality COC). The 1970s however were also a period of radicalization. Until then, the COC primarily focused on changing homosexuals to a heterosexual environment, but voices rose to have an own place for homosexuals in society, independent of the heterosexuals, and with preservation of their own identity. Because of the sexual revolution an active sex-culture formed in the gay community. More gay organizations were formed besides the COC. Although the COC stayed the largest gay organization, it lost influence and focused more on politics. It developed more and more into a sort of gay-union. In the 1980s - the years when
AIDS first became an issue - the Dutch government accepted the COC as a discussion partner on gay issues. Despite that, the introduction of
same-sex marriage in the Netherlands has to be attributed mostly to the
Gay Krant: until the mid-1990s the COC kept the position that marriage as an institution had to be rejected. Also, the management had some stability problems. The last management crisis was in the summer of 2004. As a result of a conflict about the functioning of the chairman of the COC office, both the chairman and the management had to leave. The affair led to the founding of the
Homo LesBische Federatie Nederland, an initiative from
John Blankenstein. After some hesitation, a good relation was formed between the two organizations. ==Legacy==