Dutch and foreign media taken in by gay rights group's hoax plan for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender-only community

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Dutch media have hit out after the authorities in a southern city took part in an elaborate hoax announcing the construction of a "gay-only" village.

The state broadcaster NOS and the national daily newspaper NRC reacted angrily on Thursday after they fell for the hoax a day earlier by publishing stories about plans for a community outside Tilburg specifically for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents.

The hoax also caught out several international news outlets.

The plan for the "GayVillage", which had a slick website and promotional videos, was cooked up by the Pink Monday Foundation, which organises a gay festival with the same name during Tilburg's summer festival.

Endorsed by the city's mayor and a developer to give it more authenticity, "GayVillage" was supposedly a "protected" community to be built on land north of in Tilburg.

The "plan" unleashed a wave of protest in the rights-sensitive Netherlands with people taking to Twitter to denounce a "gay ghetto", saying there was no need for a special area to protect homosexuals.

Pink Monday said it was precisely the reaction it had hoped for.

It was "an elaborate hoax, sure, but one to make a statement against intolerance of the gay community in the Netherlands," it said on Thursday.

"The negative reactions we got are positive for Pink Monday. We are happy that people think a gay village is a crazy idea."

NOS and the influential Dutch daily NRC fired off a furious letter, saying they were not amused.

"We are extremely annoyed by the way the Tilburg council handled the matter," NOS and Amsterdam-based NRC wrote in a joint letter.

"The Tilburg municipality deliberately misled the press and allowed them to publish incorrect information," the letter added, saying their credibility has been damaged.

Tilburg Mayor Peter Noordanus admitted that he had "underestimated the impact of my quote".

"I did this with the aim of drawing attention to gay rights and not to trick the media and society," he said in a statement. "That's what happened and that's annoying."

The NOS and NRC were not the only ones caught by the stunt. Britain's Independent newspaper, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, and the US Huffington Post as well as the world's oldest gay rights group, Amsterdam-based COC, also fell for the hoax.