Gay&Night-ZiZo December 2015

213
Column / Jennifer Hopelezz
JENNIFER HOPELEZZ
A POST GAY
WORLD?
For my very rst column I want to talk about
something that’s been on my dgety mind a
lot lately: the ever-shrinking Amsterdam gay
community.
I moved to this beautiful city
as a young ambitious woman for
the tolerant, liberal climate with
a bustling, sexually free gay life.
Flash forward 20 years and the
total number of gay businesses
has halved, while more than two
thirds of gay sex venues have
closed. What’s caused pink
businesses to collapse?
The accepted wisdom is
internet killed the gay bar and
I’m sure it’s true that dating sites
and apps have had an impact.
Who hasn’t whiled away endless
workdays scrolling for torsos on
Grindr? Another theory claims
that due to less discrimination,
younger generations are free to
be themselves in regular venues
– which of course is a positive
development.
But I think we’re overlooking
the consequences of the aids
crisis, which has impacted gay
Amsterdam in two ways. Firstly,
many of the people in their
forties or fties who would now
be opening businesses died and
they were often entrepreneurial,
extravagant, party people.
But secondly, and more
importantly, there has been a
complete halt since the aids
epidemic to any new business
connected to sex. A tour of
gay sex clubs, with very few
exceptions, is a walk down
memory lane, where every
development came to a shrieking
halt circa 1985. Great places to
check out retro interiors by the
way.
Amsterdam is synonymous
with sexual freedom, home to
Europe’s rst leather bar Argos
(which, incidentally, closed early
this year). That freedom was
pivotal for the development of the
gay scene. I remember meeting
guys who ew here from LA
several times a year just to play
at the infamous COC leather
parties.
But attitudes towards sex
soured, brought on by the arrival
of hiv. When my papa and I
opened Club Church in 2008 (the
only new fetish club in 20 years)
we were met with roadblocks not
only from Gemeente Amsterdam,
but also banks, insurance and
credit card companies, who
all refused to work with sex
businesses. ING and ABN might
be pro-gay and shimmy with
us during the Canal Parade
but they’re both determinately
anti-sex.
While the rest of the world
caught up, Amsterdam rested
on its laurels, didn’t ght for its
birthright and simply forgot how
to open new gay businesses.
Let’s hope that a new generation
has the courage to pick up where
the older one left off and make
sure the scene doesn’t become
just an app.
Greek-Australian Jennifer Hopelezz arrived in Amsterdam in 1990.
She (co-) started Pink Point, Homomonument Festivals, Drag
Olympics, SuperBall and published The Bent Guide to Amsterdam.
Nowadays she’s co-owner of Club Church, Sauna Nieuwezijds and
board member of Gala. She is mother of the House of Hopelezz and
lives apart together with her 3 ancées and more than 50 children.
Fotografie Jennifer Hopelezz