With a grant from Stichting Lira Fonds, Marijke Huisman is working on a Queer history of the Netherlands, to be published in the spring of 2026 by Atlas Contact publishers.

Queer history of the Netherlands highlights the work that activists have done since around 1900 to make the history of LGBT people, organizations and developments visible and to anchor them in collective memory. Such 'memory activism' is inextricably intertwined with the struggle for emancipation of gay men, lesbian women, bisexuals and transgender people. Previous generations of activists have already searched for historical role models and 'roots', resulting in a stream of historical products - from specialized archives to public books and magazines, dissertations and monuments. But that history is now being criticized by a new generation of activists, who demand more attention for queers of color and transgender people.

In her research, Marijke Huisman will focus precisely on that dynamic. She will highlight how the rainbow community has made its own history since around 1900 and how this has changed under the influence of new insights and power relations in the LGBT movement: which persons and groups were dominant in the emancipation process and when, which histories were (not) explained, which persons or groups questioned the history when and why, and how did they interpret it differently? On the basis of characteristic cases from the Dutch LGBT history production, which differ according to colour, gender and sexuality, it will be made clear that 'the' LGBT history does not exist as such, but is always the subject of struggle. In this way, the research historicises or 'queers' the one-sided white and rather compartmentalised gay, lesbian and trans historiography to date, with the aim of a more inclusive history.

The research will result in a book, to be published by Atlas Contact in the spring of 2026. Marijke Huisman, together with Hanneke Tuithof, will also incorporate the book into a refresher course for teachers of social and human subjects in secondary education.