DavidB.
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« on: September 21, 2015, 10:26:48 AM » |
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« edited: September 21, 2015, 11:08:11 AM by DavidB. »
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Until this year, Onno Hoes (VVD) was the 54-year mayor of Maastricht, the capital of the southernmost Dutch province of Limburg (which is still very much "culturally Catholic"/conservative by Dutch standards). Hoes is openly gay. Until 2014, he was married to well-known reporter Albert Verlinde, who was the host of the popular showbizz program "RTL Boulevard".
In 2013, pictures appeared with Hoes kissing a young guy, who was 19 or so, while he was still married to Verlinde. What's more, it became public that he had a profile on an app for gay (sex) dating. The city council complained, and Hoes promised not to do this again. The next year, when Hoes had already divorced Verlinde, a public broadcaster for shocking youth programs/politician trolling - named PowNed - presented a video on tv in which Hoes went on a date with a 20-year old guy, who recorded everything with a hidden camera. This guy also published messages that Hoes had sent him, some of them erotically charged - and some of them sent as Direct Messages through his official Twitter account. The 20-year old guy purposely went on a date with Hoes in order to make it a story. After this was broadcasted, the city council decided to revoke its confidence in the mayor, which led to Hoes being "fired" as mayor. (Dutch mayors aren't directly elected by the people, they are usually elected by the municipal council.)
Afterwards, the court ordered that it was illegal for PowNed to publish the video and the messages, since mayors/politicians, too, have a right to privacy.
What do you think? Should Hoes have been fired, or is this a private matter which had nothing to do with him being Mayor/a public person?
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