Brussels RainbowHouse, an important LGBTQ umbrella organisation in the capital, has cancelled one of its election debates after receiving dozens of reactions from the Francophone community to the Flemish rightwing N-VA's participation.
In the run-up to the elections on 9 June, the organisation planned an evening under the heading 'Is the future queer?' next Tuesday – a special LGBTQ debate with and for young people to focus on the community's future.
The debate was scheduled to take place in the Molenbeek venue, La Vallée, with six major Flemish parties: radical left PVDA, ecologist Groen, socialist Vooruit, liberal Open VLD, Christian-democrat CD&V and right-wing N-VA, the organisation announced in a Dutch-language post on Instagram.
Far-right Vlaams Belang was not invited, but it was the presence of N-VA that sparked the concern of many French-speaking LGBTQ people; some 50 comments (in French) criticised the decision to invite the party to the debate.
Not remaining indifferent
"Giving the floor to N-VA is breaking the cordon sanitaire, and coming from this association that is scandalous," one commenter said. "By inviting them, you also endanger the public with their violent and racist comments." The political cordon to keep the far-right out of power in Belgium, however, does not apply to N-VA – only to Vlaams Belang.
Other users wondered "when it started being okay to invite the far-right" to these debates. "What kind of signal do you think this sends to the [LGBTQ] community?" While N-VA undeniably falls on the right wing of the political spectrum, it advocates for a more moderate approach than their far-right counterparts Vlaams Belang.
Following the stream of negative online reactions, RainbowHouse decided to cancel the entire debate. In an extensive post on Instagram, the organisation explained that they "could not remain indifferent" and that they "regret" that people were hurt.
They added that the reactions also had an impact on employees, and that partner organisations threatened to withdraw from an upcoming festival organised by RainbowHouse. "It is important for us to calm the situation."
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The organisation did, however, defend the principle of debate and pointed out that it would not be "selling" party programmes by giving some people the floor during a debate. "For RainbowHouse, the confrontation of ideas is important and must be possible, face to face, even with people whose values we do not share."
Additionally, they added that they are "deeply saddened" that there is any doubt that RainbowHouse would "normalise" discrimination and that the debate is important. "Because what will happen tomorrow if we depend on federal powers whose holders may be parties whose values we do not share?"
The cancellation is also regretted by Brussels N-VA MP Gilles Verstraeten, who is gay. "It is a pity that the debate is made impossible by the most extreme militants who actually say: the debate should only take place with people who agree with our vision. It is a great pity that RainbowHouse is giving in to this."
