On Monday, 19 October 2026, former Dutch MP Coos Huijsen died at 87. His family said in a statement carried by NOS that he died at home in Amsterdam after a short illness, with his husband, Lank Bos, beside him.

Huijsen and his family said he was the first parliamentarian in the world to come out as gay in office. That is their claim, not ours. An NRC obituary later ties the international “first” to the American political scientist Andrew Reynolds, who told Huijsen so in 2013.

In 1972 he sat for half a year in the Tweede Kamer for the Christian Historical Union, the CHU, a party that later folded into the CDA. He left the CHU after it refused to back the Den Uyl cabinet.

In 1976 he returned to the chamber as an independent, taking the seat vacated by Willem Scholten. That was when he came out publicly. Bos, whom he had met in 1973, was at the swearing-in. Rumours had circulated earlier; Huijsen had denied them.

He left the Tweede Kamer in 1977. After the election he joined the Labour Party, PvdA, but he never sat again as an MP for that party. Before and after politics he taught, first in Delft and The Hague, then history at the Gerrit van der Veen College in Amsterdam-Zuid, which he directed from 1986 to 1998.

He wrote on socialism and democracy, including the books “Nog is links niet verloren” (1982) and “Socialisme als opdracht” (1986). In 2012 he took his doctorate at the University of Amsterdam with “Nederland en het verhaal van Oranje”, later nominated for the Libris History Prize.

In 2007 he co-founded Het Blauwe Fonds, a foundation for gay emancipation. His memoir “Homo politicus” came out in 2016; a new version, “Roze Draad. Strijd, succes en stilstand in vijftig jaar homo-emancipatie”, appeared in 2026.

Image: Binnenhof courtyard, The Hague, 29 August 1969, Joost Evers / Anefo, CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The parliament buildings, not a portrait of Huijsen.

Sources consulted: Eerste openlijk homoseksuele parlementslid, Coos Huijsen (87), overleden — NOS; Eerste openlijk homoseksuele parlementariër Coos Huijsen (87) overleden — NU.nl; Uitgesproken en bezorgd: Coos Huijsen, de eerste openlijk homoseksuele parlementariër ter wereld, overleden — NRC.