It used to be no fun to go through life as a gay or lesbian. People thought it was weird when a man fell in love with a man, or a woman with a woman. Someone with such strange sexual behavior had to be a stickler.
Homosexuality was not socially accepted until well into the twentieth century. Celebrating a party freely with other gay men, as nowadays on Pink Saturday, was therefore not an option. Gays had to hide their sexual orientation to avoid ostracism by family or dismissal from the employer. Most of the people regarded homosexuality as amoral, perverse and sickly, even as a psychological disorder. Until the 1950s, homosexuality was described as a disease that could be 'luckily' treated with medication.
An association for homosexuals was founded in Amsterdam in 1946, the COC, with the aim of improving the position of gays. However, it would take a long time before anything changed in society. It was not until the 1970s that homosexuals and lesbians were seen as normal people. The equality of gays and straights was laid down in law in the Netherlands (in steps). For example, in 1973 gay men were allowed to do military service for the first time and employment offices no longer registered the sexual orientation of job seekers. Since 1994 there has been the Equal Treatment Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, orientation, skin color and the like.
Today, homosexuality is fairly accepted in most Western countries. Yet not everyone is convinced of the normality of homosexual orientation, as many Dutch Muslims are. To this day, gays are mistreated in the street simply because they are gay.