Forresters Warn Gays to behave Themselves
AMSTERDAM. Acting on complaints from religious immigrants and shocked
heterosexuals forresters in the "Amsterdamse Bos" (Amsterdam woods) have warned
cruising gays to behave themselves in the area designated for nude recreation
in the south-eastern corner of the parc, located in Amstelveen, south of
Amsterdam. Overcrowding of the large cruising area "De Oeverlanden" near the
"Nieuwe Meer" caused by the continuing hot wheater combined with fear of
increased anti-gay violence is thought to be responsible for the sudden upsurge
in cruising activity in the "Amsterdamse Bos". For several weeks now gays have
been warned off but it is just a matter of time until the first gay men will be
fined for indecent exposure. Heterosexual visitors to the nude recreation area
being scrutinised said that they were generally more bothered by the stepped-up
presence of forresters than by the cruising men. The situation highlights a
problem facing gays in more and more Dutch towns and cities including Amsterdam
namely that as over the past few years more and more cruising-areas have been
made unusable for cruising these activities tend to concentrate in a small
number of places causing problems. A similar situation last year led to people
from a neighbourhood near the "Kralingse Bos", a large cruising area in
Rotterdam, "clearing the place" of cruising men by patrolling the woods.
The matter attracted quite some publicity at the time and was "solved" by
making the woods less accessible for cruising men.