Another Cool Dutch Lesbian: Claudia de Breij

By Contributing Writer on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 - 19:45

by Natazzz – Contributing Writer

“This is not a song
There is nothing to sing about
Everything is fine
We shouldn’t complain so much
This is not a song
About all kinds of horrible things
Because in this country there is nothing left for us to fight for
This is not a song
Because we can get married and show our commitment to the world
This is not a song
About how we marched and fought

Everything is fine
But better not hold each other’s hand when you pass a group of boisterous youth
Kiss each other freely when you go outside of town but never too enthusiastic on the streets
And just laugh when they ask who of you the woman is
And just laugh when they ask if you aren’t missing something 

Everything is fine
If you don’t mind there are no movies about you
If you don’t mind there are no books about you
If you don’t mind there are no songs about you
This is not a song…”

These are some of the lyrics (roughly and freely translated by this contributing writer) of Claudia de Breij’s song “Geen Liedje” (Not a song) about the current state of acceptance of gays and lesbians in the Netherlands or “homo emancipation” as our government likes to call it. I might be living in one of the most liberal countries in the world, but that does not necessarily mean that everything is perfect.

Claudia de Breij is a Dutch out lesbian TV presenter, radio DJ and stand up comedian. She is mostly known for presenting the late night talk show “Thank God it’s Friday” with the VARA on Nederland 3 that aired until recently. Before that she presented several other (mainly late night) TV shows including “VARA Laat” (VARA late), VARA live, “Het Elfde Uur” (The Eleventh Hour) and “De Wereld Draait Door”(The world keeps on turning).

Long before Claudia started to appear on television, she was already a successful radio DJ on Holland’s main radio channel 3 FM with her program “Claudia D’r Op”. In a pretty much men-dominated world, she always seemed to hold her own very well. Even though I have never been a big fan of female DJs (don’t ask me why, they always seem to come across to me as either annoying or bitchy), I always loved to listen to Claudia’s shows. This was way before I even had a clue that she was a lesbian. Perhaps my great gaydar picked up on something?

I do not recall Claudia having a big coming out or that her being a lesbian was ever considered a big deal by anyone. Someone please correct me if I am wrong (DutchCJ? You seem to know everything about Dutch celebrities). It was always mentioned rather matter-of-factly, like her talking about her partner Conny Kraaijeveld who she married in 2005 or her making a joke about being into women.

At least, that is how I first found out she was gay. I was watching her on I think it was “De Wereld Draait Door”, where she was interviewing one of her guests. At one point she made some offhanded comment about being gay and I remember thinking “Oh she’s gay, how awesome”. Awesome, because I always really liked her and thought she was so cool. Not to dis any other out Dutch lesbians, but not all of them I would necessarily consider to be cool. 

What I love most about Claudia is her stand up. So far she has done several succesful theatre tours, including “Claudia Zuigt” (Claudia sucks) in which she combines witty commentary on everyday events with awesome songs like the one I opened this article with. She’s got a wonderful sense of humour, very snarky, just the way I like it.

Claudia is currently in the middle of a big stand-up theatre tour entitled “iClaudia” through all of the Netherlands and she has even included one or two dates in Belgium. You can find out more about it here. During the day you can hear Claudia on the radio at 3 FM every Friday around lunchtime. And as if that isn’t keeping her busy enough, she and her wife also recently had a baby boy named Bing.