Exaggerated media claims about pedophiles, as well as the increasing public and institutional hostility toward them, were on the minds of many.  Over the past two years The Netherlands has seen a series of mob attacks on the homes of  pedophiles or accused pedophiles. In the weeks just preceding the conference, there had been the murder of a young pedophile, after his release from prison and a sex offenders' therapy program, by the father of the boy he was found guilty of touching through his clothes.  This was accompanied by newspaper coverage portraying the father as a hero who had done what police and justice authorities had failed to accomplish to assure the safety of children: the permanent elimination of a pedophile from society.

Another affair which had received massive coverage in the month preceding the conference was the high profile investigation arising from the police seizure of the estate of the late Senator Edward Brongersma, now accused of being the leader of an international pedophile network, which has yielded the names of hundreds of his Dutch correspondents (and thousands of names worldwide) over his 50-year career as an advocate of sexual liberation, all of whom in turn are now being portrayed by the police and media (and facing arrest) as suspects in a child pornography or child sex slave conspiracy.

At the end of the plenary session, summarizing the day's discussions, the consensus among conference participants was to express hope that education about who sexual minorities really are (as opposed to the prejudices people have about them) would take place, opening up personal discussion and encounters, and in time perhaps ending violence and discrimination. The feeling was also clearly that such discussion would need to involve members of all sexual minority groups, as no group could "go it alone." The conclusion drawn was that sexual education and sexual liberation must be returned to the social agenda as a broad topic, and that until social attitudes about sexuality in general changed, no sexual minority group could expect progress. The church, as a social institution, and one which has contributed to negative attitudes in the past, has its work cut out for it, as much as it did when Joseph Doucé began his ministry in 1976.

The afternoon closed with a memorial service for Joseph Doucé in the Pauluskerk's sanctuary, held by candle light due to a temporary power outage.  A surprisingly large number--about 40--stayed to give thanks for the life and pioneering work of Joseph Doucé, and recommit themselves to the unfinished task still before us.