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Amsterdam Decriminalises Public Sex

Amsterdam Signposts Gay Sex Zones

– AMSTERDAM, April 29, 2009

Signboards are to be put up in Amsterdam directing homosexuals to nature areas where they can have sex with one another.

Homosexuals who want to get to the recreation area De Oeverlanden can see where they have to go on information signboards. The Amsterdam district of Slotervaart unveiled the signboards yesterday.

Another Amsterdam district, Oud-Zuid, had already come up with a gay friendliness memo last year. It said that in Vondelpark there should be extra rubbish bins where homosexuals could put their condoms.

An earlier version of the memo also said gays having sex belonged in the park, but this passage was later removed.

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Dutch signs point to gay sex seekers

ABC News – April 29, 2009

A park near Amsterdam has unveiled information signs pointing out spots where officials say gay men are known to have sex, so visitors are not taken by surprise.

The signs “clearly indicate what is happening in each zone; also those where gay men are known to practice ‘cruising’,” municipal spokeswoman Manon Koffijberg said.

Cruising is a slang word used to describe the act of trawling for casual sex.

“If you don’t want to be confronted by a vision of that sort, the signs allow you to avoid specific areas,” Ms Koffijberg said.  Read more

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Dutch park unveils signs pointing to gay ‘cruiser’ area

news.com.au – April 29, 2009

A park near Amsterdam has unveiled information signs polinting out spots where officials say gay men are known to have sex – so no visitors are taken by surprise.

The signs ‘clearly indicate what is happening in each zone; also those where gay men are known to practice ‘cruising’,” municipal spokeswoman Manon Koffijberg said. Read more

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Dutch park unveils signs to ‘warn visitors’ about gay cruising spots

pinknews.co.uk – April 29, 2009

A park in the southwest of Amsterdam has put up signs indicating areas where gay men are allegedly known to have sex so no one will be caught unaware.

Manon Koffiijberg, a municipal spokeswoman, told Agence France-Presse: “There are various groups of users of the park; people
with small children who bathe on the beaches, those who walk their dogs, gays cruising and nature lovers.

“Things are arranged so that each group can relax in their own area without intruding on each other.”

“The signs clearly indicate what is happening in each zone; also those where gay men are known to practice ‘cruising’.” Read more

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Gay Beat Gets Nod From Police

samesame.com.au – March 17, 2008

In one of the boldest, most refreshing approaches we’ve seen from authorities in quite a while, councillors in the Netherlands have just legalised a gay beat in one of Amsterdam’s best known parks.

The rose garden at Amsterdam’s Vondelpark has been a notorious cruising ground for years, but instead of outlawing what goes on there, authorities have decided to impose a set of rules instead. Read more

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Amsterdam Decriminalizes Public Sex in Famous Park

Dutch police urge whole country to follow example

Matthew Cullinan Hoffman – March 13, 2008

The government of Amsterdam has decided to decriminalize sexual activity in the Netherlands’ most popular and famous park, the Vondelpark.

Frequented by families and tourists, the Vondelpark features ponds, children’s playgrounds, an open air theater with free performances, and woodsy areas where authorities say that couples of any sexual combination will be free to copulate beginning in September of this year.

The park has reportedly become a favorite meeting place for homosexuals, who often engage in sexual activities there. Local law has long imposed a fine for those caught in such behavior, but under the new law such fines will no longer apply after dark. Read more

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Amsterdam Police Get Homosexuals Out of the Bushes

Willemien Groot – March 12, 2008

AMSTERDAM – The most beautiful park in the centre of Amsterdam has a colourful mixture of visitors, especially in the summer. Parents with children, inline skaters who display their tricks in front of the film museum, joggers, couples walking hand in hand and … gay men cruising in the rose garden.

As dusk falls, the Vondelpark has been a regular meeting place for men looking for a short and uncomplicated sexual encounter since time immemorial. Now the Amsterdam police are causing a commotion because they want gay men to stop hiding in the bushes and come out into the open. Read more

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Police: Allow Sex in All Dutch Parks

March 8, 2008

AMSTERDAM – The police’s National Diversity Expertise Centre (LECD) wants sex allowed in all public parks in the Netherlands. The police institute has advised the cities to follow the example of Amsterdam, De Telegraaf newspaper reported Friday.

In Amsterdam’s Vondelpark, owners of dogs let off the leash can be fined, but sex will shortly be permitted. “Why should we try to maintain something that is actually impossible to maintain, which also causes little bother for others and for a certain group actually signifies much pleasure?” says Paul van Grieken, the responsible Alderman in the Oud-Zuid district of Amsterdam.

Van Grieken confirmed that the plan to tolerate public sex in Vondelpark is part of a draft version of new rules of conduct for the city’s best-known park. The regulations are to come into force after the summer. “Of course there are strict rules attached. Thus, condoms must always be cleared away, it must never take place in the neighbourhood of children’s playgrounds and the sex must be restricted to the evening and night-time.” Read more