COC Groningen chair steps down

RUG student Jantine Doornbos is leaving her position as chairperson of COC Groningen & Drenthe, a local LGBT rights organisation. ‘The organisation deserves somebody who can focus on the work 100 per cent.’
By Traci White

Doornbos, a 24-year-old information science student, took on the job of leading the Northern provinces’ branch of the national organisation in February.

She says that her work for her business – FoodDrop, a bicycle food delivery service – and her academic responsibilities made it difficult for her to dedicate the amount of time the COC leadership position demanded.

Stronger bonds

‘I worked 40 to 60 hours a week for the COC, and we have achieved so much’, Doornbos says. ‘The bonds we have with the police and the municipality have been strengthened, and safety in the city has also been improved.’

The outgoing chairperson also states that the demanding work should also be paid work. ‘If you think that this work should be done well, then the money and resources to do it right really need to be there to provide people with the help they need.’

Discrimination

Several high profile cases of discriminatory incidents toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the past year included a Hanze student being declined from an internship because he was gay and a lesbian couple being assaulted in the city centre.

A survey which COC conducted after the attack ‘revealed the emancipation is still lagging behind here in the north’, Doornbos says. Under Doornbos’ supervision, COC also set up a hotline for reporting discrimination against LGBT people.

 

Dutch

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