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A former congressman who introduced nine anti-LGBT bills will negotiate relations with the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage.
Donald Trump's record of homophobia and transphobia continues to grow, with his appointment of a Republican extremist as amassador to the Netherlands.
The social views of long-serving Michigan congressman Pete Hoekstra will clearly clash with liberal Holland, which legalized same-sex marriage back in 2001. Hoekstra, which spent the first three years of his life in the Netherlands, is a far-right conservative of which Trump is a big fan. Hoekstra sponsored nine anti-LGBT bills while in office, according to the Washington Post.
Serving in Congress from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was a backer of the Defense of Marriage Act, and tried to make adoption harder for same-sex parents. He even refused to add an LGBT-specific nondiscrimination policy to his own congressional office.
A Tea Party member, Hoekstra is also an anti-immigrant extremist, which conflicts with the sentiments of many Dutch citizens; a hard-line Islamophobe running for prime minister lost in the Dutch elections in March.
Netherlands politician Sophie in 't Veld told the newspaper de Volkskrant that, "We are looking forward with interest to cooperating with Mr. Hoekstra. We will certainly remind him his roots lie in a country that values tolerance, equality and inclusion ... we expect the representative of our friend and ally the United States to fully and wholly respect our values and to show that respect in all his acts and words."
