Expreszo
Encyclopedia
Expreszo is the only magazine for lesbian
, gay
and bisexual youth in the Netherlands
and Flanders
.
. It is a combination of two Dutch
words, Expres and Zo which would roughly be translated into English
as On Purpose Like This. The name refers to the questions gay, lesbian and bisexual youths are confronted with when they decide to be open about their sexual identity
. The Expreszo staff claim that there is no need for questions since there already are answers, saying "we're young, we're queer and there is nothing bad about that". This positive attitude from some gay and lesbian youths needed to be shared with other members of their generation who still struggled with their sexual identity.
The magazine Expreszo claims to give the readers the role model
s that they lack in daily life. The editors also write about serious issues. Coming out of the closet is a continuing story — and unfortunately HIV
/AIDS is too. Besides that, while legal emancipation has come to a good ending in civil marriage
and adoption right
s for gays and lesbians in The Netherlands (2001) and Belgium (2003) and things have changed in society, intolerance from other (religious) minority groups towards gays and lesbians is still a big issue in The Netherlands.
Expreszo ran a poster campaign (Aisha is Cool / Ahmed is Cool, 2004) with kissing Muslim
boys and girls that got a lot of media attention.
In order to get attention for the position of gay youth in highschools Expreszo (in co-operation with COC Netherlands) ran a project PinkQuest, resulting in a magazine Put da Cool back into School, distributed in most high schools in the country. Dutch MPs asked questions about the publication, which was co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
, since a lot of "black" and Christian schools refused to hand out the magazine to their students.
In 1991, 1995 and 2001 the lack of funds seriously threatened the magazine in its existence. In 1995 the publisher, the Stichting Hoezo (Foundation), joined COC Netherlands
, the largest lesbian and gay association in the Netherlands. COC boardmembers from 1995 formed the board of Hoezo/Expreszo and COC Netherlands started funding the magazine from 1995 until 2001. A benefit/rescue party in December 2001 gave new energy to the editorial staff. COC funding stopped, but with a new format (e.g. size, full color) the board and staff managed to boost sales and advertisement. For the first time Expreszo started making a profit.
A statute ensures that the editorial staff of Expreszo is independent in their writing (independent from COC).
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and bisexual youth in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
.
The philosophy
The name Expreszo does not refer to espressoEspresso
Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee. Espresso is widely known throughout the world....
. It is a combination of two Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
words, Expres and Zo which would roughly be translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as On Purpose Like This. The name refers to the questions gay, lesbian and bisexual youths are confronted with when they decide to be open about their sexual identity
Sexual identity
Sexual identity is a term that, like sex, has two distinctively different meanings. One describes an identity roughly based on sexual orientation, the other an identity based on sexual characteristics, which is not socially based but based on biology, a concept related to, but different from,...
. The Expreszo staff claim that there is no need for questions since there already are answers, saying "we're young, we're queer and there is nothing bad about that". This positive attitude from some gay and lesbian youths needed to be shared with other members of their generation who still struggled with their sexual identity.
The magazine Expreszo claims to give the readers the role model
Role model
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
s that they lack in daily life. The editors also write about serious issues. Coming out of the closet is a continuing story — and unfortunately HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
/AIDS is too. Besides that, while legal emancipation has come to a good ending in civil marriage
Civil marriage
Civil marriage is marriage performed by a government official and not a religious organization.-History:Every country maintaining a population registry of its residents keeps track of marital status, and most countries believe that it is their responsibility to register married couples. Most...
and adoption right
Adoption by same-sex couples
LGBT adoption is the adoption of children by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. This may be in the form of a joint adoption by a same-sex couple, adoption by one partner of a same-sex couple of the other's biological child , and adoption by a single LGBT person.Adoption by same-sex...
s for gays and lesbians in The Netherlands (2001) and Belgium (2003) and things have changed in society, intolerance from other (religious) minority groups towards gays and lesbians is still a big issue in The Netherlands.
Expreszo ran a poster campaign (Aisha is Cool / Ahmed is Cool, 2004) with kissing Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
boys and girls that got a lot of media attention.
In order to get attention for the position of gay youth in highschools Expreszo (in co-operation with COC Netherlands) ran a project PinkQuest, resulting in a magazine Put da Cool back into School, distributed in most high schools in the country. Dutch MPs asked questions about the publication, which was co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is the Dutch Ministry of Education: the position is occupied with the Dutch education policy, science policy, culture policy and the Netherlands Public Broadcasting.The current minister is Marja van Bijsterveldt, she is aided by a state secretary, Halbe...
, since a lot of "black" and Christian schools refused to hand out the magazine to their students.
About the publisher and editors
Expreszo is claimed to be made for, and made by young people and for this reason staff turnover is frequent. Over forty staff members are involved in making the magazine, maintaining the website, and running the organization. This includes editors, desktop publishers, photographers, and other staff members. In spite of being a purely volunteer organization they claim to have reached a professional standard.In 1991, 1995 and 2001 the lack of funds seriously threatened the magazine in its existence. In 1995 the publisher, the Stichting Hoezo (Foundation), joined COC Netherlands
COC Nederland
COC Nederland is a Dutch organization for LGBT men and women. COC originally stood for Cultuur en Ontspanningscentrum , which was intended as a "cover" name for its real purpose...
, the largest lesbian and gay association in the Netherlands. COC boardmembers from 1995 formed the board of Hoezo/Expreszo and COC Netherlands started funding the magazine from 1995 until 2001. A benefit/rescue party in December 2001 gave new energy to the editorial staff. COC funding stopped, but with a new format (e.g. size, full color) the board and staff managed to boost sales and advertisement. For the first time Expreszo started making a profit.
A statute ensures that the editorial staff of Expreszo is independent in their writing (independent from COC).
Production and distribution
- The magazine was started as a newsletter from the RotterdamRotterdamRotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
gay youth group Apollo, and after a few years most readers and subscribers were outside the Rotterdam region and in 1990 it was decided to distribute the newsletter through bookshops all over The Netherlands (by Betapress). In 1999 distribution started in BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(by AMPnet). - Expreszo is published six times a year. (quarterly until 1994, 10 times a year in 1995, 6 times a year since 1996 until present)
- The makers of Expreszo are all volunteers - mostly students.
- Expreszo is for sale in over 1,000 bookshops in Belgium and the Netherlands.