Corporate homophobia in the Netherlands

Bas and Jan Willem, Facebook photo

In Drachten in Friesland province in the Netherlands, there is agricultural wholesale company A. Th. De Boer. It calls itself a Christian business.

Recently, 25-year-old Small Business and Retail Management student Bas van der Meer applied as a trainee at A. Th. De Boer. The talks went very well and he fully expected to be accepted.

Then, A. Th. De Boer saw on Bas’ Facebook page he had a loving relationship with 21-year-old Jan Willem, a man. The company said their plans to have Bas as a trainee were cancelled because of Bas being gay. ‘We are a Christian company’.

Bas van der Meer reacted in the 19 November 2015 edition of daily Algemeen Dagblad:

The family of my partner are Christians as well, but they say this makes them ashamed to be Christians.

Bas plans to sue the company at the human rights court; to help stop discrimination because of skin colour, sexual orientation or other pretexts. Not just for himself, but for others as well.

Hendrik de Boer, the boss of A. Th. De Boer, said to the Algemeen Dagblad he considered it ‘a low blow’ that Bas van der Meer had published the homophobic rejection e-mail on the Internet. He refused to say more about it.