Two new canon windows on the first female COC executive, Sonja Witstein (1920-1978), and top athlete Jeffrey Wammes (1987)
Sonja Witstein was the first woman on the board of the Utrecht-based COC in 1951. A year later, she was elected to the main board. In the same period (1950-1952), she corresponded with the writer Anna Blaman with whom she had a brief affair. In various ways, she tried to give women a bigger role in the COC.
The Utrecht-based gymnast Jeffrey Wammes was the first Dutch top athlete to come out of the closet in 2010, still during his sports career. Between 2005 and 2010, he won several world cup competitions and became Dutch all-around champion four times. In several interviews and as ambassador of Amsterdam Pride 2019, he advocated for a safe sports climate where lhbtiqa+ athletes do not have to keep their feelings hidden.
https://www.queerustories.nl/ookzo/1987jeffrey-wammes/
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