Edward Brongersma - Career

Career

After World War II he quickly made a career for himself as a lawyer and politician as well as a prolific writer. He worked as an attorney in Amsterdam from 1940 to 1950, and between 1946 and 1950 he was active within the editorial board of the Dutch journal for the legal profession, Nederlands Juristenblad. In 1946, he was elected to the Dutch Senate for the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA); his term lasted from 1946 to 1950 and later he had a second term, from 1963 to 1977. In the same period (1946–1950), he was a member for the Dutch Labour Party of the Provincial States of North Holland and served on the town council of Heemstede.

His career was abruptly interrupted in 1950, when he was arrested for having sexual relations with a 17-year-old male. At the time, the age of consent for homosexual contacts was 21, based on article 248bis Dutch Criminal Code. The conviction of Brongersma resulted in 11 months imprisonment.

He subsequently continued his career in the 1950s as a journalist and critic. From 1953 to 1956, he was a member of the executive committee of the Dutch Labour Party in the Utrecht region. In 1956 he was recruited for a four-year term as director of community work in Haarlem. As a result of his conviction, he had been disbarred in 1950, but re-admitted to the Dutch Bar in 1959. He resumed his legal practice and continued to work as a lawyer until 1980.

From 1960 to 1967, he was a senior lecturer at the Criminological Institute of Utrecht University, where he worked very closely with Professor of Law W. Pompe. In 1963, at the request of the Dutch Labour Party, he rejoined the Senate for a second term which would last until his resignation in 1977. From 1969 to 1977 he was chairman and spokesman for the Permanent Senate's Committee for Justice. For his political service, he was made a Companion in the Order of the Dutch Lion on 29 April 1975.

Brongersma was primarily known for his publications and his advocacy of more liberal morality legislation, a subject in which he was keenly interested. Because of his expertise, he played a major role in 1971 as a member of the Senate in abolishing Article 248bis of the Dutch Criminal Code, the same article on the basis of which he had been convicted in 1950. The age of consent for homosexual contacts was then lowered from 21 to 16 (the same as for heterosexual contacts). He advocated lowering the age of consent even further and allowing young people greater freedom to enter into sexual relations.

In the course of his lifetime he collected a huge number of scientific and academic publications on these themes, consisting of a library and personal archives. In 1979 he donated them to a foundation bearing his name, the object of which as stated in its articles of association was "promoting scientific study and publications in the field of sexual relations between adults and young people". In 1992 the objective was broadened to "promoting research of the sexual-emotional health of children and young people".

After resigning from the Dutch Senate in 1977, Brongersma devoted himself completely to the objectives of his foundation. It was then that he wrote his magnum opus "Loving Boys" (published in two parts, 1987 and 1990), while continuing to expand his collections.