LGBTIQ+ rights are once again on the political bargaining table

The Dutch government has updated its travel advisory for LGBTIQ+ individuals traveling to the United States. It no longer states that laws and values in the U.S. are comparable to those in the Netherlands. On the contrary, the message now is that there are stark differences — and that these differences can have consequences for the safety and rights of LGBTIQ+ people. The space for diversity and inclusion is shrinking.

We tend to view progress as something irreversible. In the Netherlands, marriage was opened to everyone in 2021, the labor market discriminates less explicitly, and laws surrounding gender identity have become more accessible. But the reality is that rights — however fundamental — are not guaranteed. They are fought for, gained, and — as we now see in the U.S. — sometimes dismantled. That dismantling is happening with a bitter eagerness that is chilling in its speed. Years of building up emancipation movements are being undermined and eagerly torn down, as if regression were a goal in itself.

The update to the travel advisory didn’t come out of nowhere. In various U.S. states, anti-LGBTIQ+ laws are being passed that not only restrict rights but also foster a climate in which hatred and exclusion are normalized. From leaders, one should expect at the very least that they do not humiliate their residents and visitors. Instead, this vulnerable group is being further exposed to violence. The ban on gender-neutral passport options (an “X”), as now confirmed in the travel advisory, is just one symptom of a broader development in which identities are not recognized but denied.

The fact that countries like the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark are issuing warnings about the position of LGBTIQ+ people in the U.S. should be a wake-up call to all of us. It shows how quickly a society can shift from progressive values to restrictive policies. And this applies not only to the U.S. — rights are also under pressure in Europe. Consider the anti-LGBTIQ+ zones in Poland, the censorship laws in Hungary where Pride is now banned, and the increasing acceptance of reactionary rhetoric in the Netherlands.

Politics is about the distribution of scarcity, but LGBTIQ+ rights should never be part of that equation — they concern something that cannot be divided but only grows when shared. It’s about love. Love is not a slice of cake where one person gets less if another gets more. It’s a force that multiplies when we embrace it, not when we restrict it. And precisely for that reason, we must not allow ourselves to be swept up in politics that treat rights and values as negotiable. A society that truly wants to be free chooses to create space for every individual. Not because it is politically convenient, but because it is human.