Elections 2024: Vlaams Belang faction leader attacks LGBTQI+ associations

The faction leader of far-right party Vlaams Belang in the Flemish parliament, Chris Janssens, has hit out at Belgian LGBTQI+ associations. Janssens, who is gay, said that “the best thing that can happen to the community of gay, lesbian and bisexual people is that these movements cease to exist”. Vlaams Belang's stance on LGBTQI+ rights has become a prominent topic during the recent election debates.

In an interview with the Flemish parliament’s TV channel, Janssens said that associations like çavaria had previously brought value for the emancipation of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, but that those days are over.

“We now see that gay people have the same rights as straight people,” he said. “So to keep themselves afloat and justify their subsidies, [organisations] have become fixated on all kinds of small ‘groupuscules’ and gender deviations. The vast majority of gay, lesbian and bisexual people are not concerned with that.

“There needs to be a break between LGB and everything after that. Because you happen to be attracted to someone of the same sex, that doesn't mean you doubt your own sex or gender.”

Vlaams Belang's stance on LGBTQI+ rights has become a prominent topic during the recent election debates. The party’s leader, Tom Van Grieken, has said that Vlaams Belang would not roll back LGBT rights, as these are established rights, but that it does oppose the continuing evolution of gender ideology.

Van Grieken has made it clear that Vlaams Belang opposes reimbursements for gender-affirming surgeries, adjustments to gender registrations on identity cards and gender-neutral toilets. The party is, he said, “no big fans of same-sex adoption, since children have the right to a mum and dad”. He has also said that “the real extremists are those that deny that there are only men and women”.
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_{#FlandersNewsService | Chris Janssens of Vlaams Belang ​ © BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT}