Amsterdam Health Service: Gays take less Risk AMSTERDAM. Drawing conclusions from a long-running study of visitors to a health-clinic for veneral deseases located in the heart of Amsterdam the Amsterdam Health Service (GG&GD) today said that especially younger gays (under 30) appear to take less risk when having sex than a few years ago as the number of visitors to the clinic testing positive to HIV in this agegroup has decreased significantly. Among some 6,200 persons tested for HIV-exposure the percentage of those infected with HIV has gone down from 3.9% in the first 6 months of 1991 to 2.3% in the last six months of 1994. Heterosexual non-drug users infec- ted with HIV were found to be mainly from high-risk African and South-American countries. Forresters Warn Gays to behave Themselves AMSTERDAM. Acting on complaints from religious immigrants and shocked heterosexuals forresters in the "Amsterdamse Bos" (Am- sterdam woods) have warned cruising gays to behave themselves in the area designated for nude recreation in the south-eastern corner of the parc, located in Amstelveen, south of Amsterdam. Overcrowding of the large cruising area "De Oeverlanden" near the "Nieuwe Meer" caused by the continuing hot wheater combined with fear of increased anti-gay violence is thought to be res- ponsible for the sudden upsurge in cruising activity in the "Amsterdamse Bos". For several weeks now gays have been warned off but it is just a matter of time until the first gay men will be fined for indecent exposure. Heterosexual visitors to the nude recreation area being scrutinised said that they were generally more bothered by the stepped-up presence of forres- ters than by the cruising men. The situation highlights a pro- blem facing gays in more and more Dutch towns and cities inclu- ding Amsterdam namely that as over the past few years more and more cruising-areas have been made unusable for cruising these activities tend to concentrate in a small number of places cau- sing problems. A similar situation last year led to people from a neighbourhood near the "Kralingse Bos", a large cruising area in Rotterdam, "clearing the place" of cruising men by patrol- ling the woods. The matter attracted quite some publicity at the time and was "solved" by making the woods less accessible for cruising men. Subsidies Gay Movement Cut by 25% in 1996 THE HAGUE/AMSTERDAM. Despite lobbying by the COC-N.V.I.H. (Dut- ch Gay liberation movement) the Minister for public health Erica Terpstra will go ahead with cutting the COC's state sub- sidies for 1996 by some 25%, in line with agreements made be- tween the 3 ruling coalition parties, the Conservative- and Social Liberal parties and the Social Democrats. This has lead to a drive within the COC to attract more membership, generate more funds from other sources and the setting up of a special committee to come up with ideas on how to transform the COC into a more market-oriented organisation. It is also very like- ly the matter will in some form appear on the agenda for this year's national Congress to be held in Haarlem in november. Dutch Gay News is a non-commercial, volunteer activity aimed at spreading information concerning all aspects of the Dutch gay community. DGN can be reached c/o: Bert Schuur, John Franklinstraat 71-iii, NL-1056 TA Amsterdam, The Netherlands, tel/fax int-31-20-6837486, email: berts@xs4all.nl Love from Holland, Bert Schuur