Evelien Eshuis

Eveline Luberta "Evelien" Eshuis (born 25 November 1942) is a Dutch politician who was a member of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands from 1982 to 1986. She was the first openly lesbian member of the Dutch Parliament.

Biography Eshuis was born on 25 November 1942 in Amersfoort, Netherlands. She then attended the University of Amsterdam, where she studied andragology. From 1972 to 1975, she taught at a in Amsterdam, and she worked at a community center from 1975 to 1982.

During her time as a teacher, she joined the radical feminist movement, which she said she felt directly connected to as she said the people were enthusiastically working to invent the future, but wished for there to be real policy. Eshuis is described in Trouw as one of the most well-known LGBT politicians in the Netherlands. In Parliament, she regularly wore a pink triangle pin as a symbol of lesbian pride.

After serving one term in the House of Representatives from 1982 to 1986, she became the secretary of the district council of De Pijp. From 1993 to 2002, she was Amstelveen's director of environment and recreation, and has since worked as a consultant. She is a member of the board of Opzij, a feminist magazine. She has also been a board member of the Schorer Foundation until 2012 which was involved in the mental and physical health care for the LGBT community.