AOb'er Raymond Hintjes wins prize for gay emancipation
Raymond Hintjes, chairman of the AObdepartment of Catholic teachers, has won an award for its contribution to gay liberation. The jury praises Hintjes, among other things, for his 'daring and guts'.
As of August 1, religion teacher Raymond Hintjes is chairman of the AObSaint Bonaventura department. His first achievement was that he lashed out at Cardinal Wim Eijk because of his book The bond of love about sexuality. The jury of the Grail Cup Award, a prize awarded by the RK Homo-emancipatie foundation, states that it shows 'daring and guts' that Hintjes openly and 'vulnerably' takes a position against Eijk's book. Also in it Education magazine of AOb Hintjes protested against the 'sex bible'.
What did the cardinal write down?
Hintjes: “His new book 'The bond of love', which was released last fall, was the last straw for me. I am Catholic and gay. According to our orthodox cardinal, I shouldn't be in front of the class. I have been doing that with great pleasure at Blaricum College in Venlo for twelve years. There I am with heart and soul a philosophy of life and religion teacher.”
What do you think of his reasoning?
“Eijk, for example, talks about the 'objective disorder of homosexual relationships'. In his eyes, these are equivalent to pedophilia, rape, prostitution and bestiality. That is why homosexual teachers should be discriminated against. I personally feel deeply touched by this and so I wrote on social media and in it Dutch newspaper some tough charges. The man uses the same kind of reasoning as the extreme right, the Putin and Trump-likes and all those other orthodox when it comes to restricting freedoms that deviate from what they consider normal. We cannot and must not let that pass.”
Why not?
“Not for myself and not because of my students, some of whom struggle with their identity. Who, like me, do not want to choose between their religion and their orientation and want to talk about it openly.”
Such a fittie is a nice introduction to Bona as brand new chairman?
“I initially wrote my story as a private person. But soon gained the support of the rest of the board. Also within the total AOb I experience a lot of support. Faithful or not. That is the beauty of the association: we all find each other in the fight for a fair, just and open society in which groups are not marginalized on the basis of origin, preference or religion.”
Read here more about Saint Bonaventura and join the AObdepartment of Catholic teachers
