Small-town Dutch mayor was subject to a homophobic attack

Boy Scholtze has the distinction of being the country’s youngest mayor

The Netherlands is known as one of the most progressive countries in Europe and the world, so it was rather surprising when news came out that, yesterday, a local mayor suffered abuse, and even an attempt on his life, due to his sexual orientation.

Boy Scholtze, aged 32, is the mayor of Drimmelen municipality, elected to this position in December 2022 and getting on record as currently the youngest town hall leader in the Low Country. It seems, however, that at least one of his constituents has not gotten used to the idea of having a gay mayor, even almost a year after Mr Scholtze stepped into office.

According to media reports, the mayor was heading from his office towards his car when a driver tried to run him over, forcing the politician to jump aside to save himself. The attacker then hurled homophobic abuse at Mr Scholze before walking into the town hall, where he kept on directing threats and insults specifically emphasizing the sexual orientation of the mayor.

Not the first attack on the mayor

The perpetrator, aged 76, was subsequently arrested, however, the whole incident left a bitter taste of unease locally.

Drimmelen, located in North Brabant Province, is a small municipality which counts a bit over 28,000 inhabitants. The incident shows that conservative and radical attitudes towards people of different sexual orientations and identities still persist below the veneer of calm in the Dutch countryside.

Dutch society is generally known as being very tolerant, underscored by the fact that the Netherlands was the first country in the world to allow same-sex marriage in 2001. Since then, more than 15,000 LGBTQ couples have used their right to affirm their commitment to each other. One of them is Drimmelen’s mayor and his husband.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first attack against Mr Scholtze. In June he had a paving stone thrown through the window of his house. He then shrugged off the incident by joking that he would’ve preferred a bouquet of flowers or a welcome card from the community.