Petrus Antonius "Peter" Lankhorst (born 1 January 1947) is a retired Dutch politician of the GreenLeft (GL) party and political consultant. Lankhorst served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 10 June 1981 until 17 May 1994, first as a member of the Political Party of Radicals (PPR) and from 1990 as a member of GreenLeft. He became the Parliamentary leader of GreenLeft in the House of Representatives and the Leader of GreenLeft on 21 April 1993 after the resignation of

Ria Beckers A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they ca ...

Biography

Early life

Petrus Antonius Lankhorst was born on 1 January 1947 in

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is o ...

in the

Netherlands Province There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands (), representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance. The most populous prov ...

Overijssel Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the ...

in a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

family. He attended a Protestant-Christian

special schools Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

Meppel Meppel (; Drents: ''Möppelt'') is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It constitutes the southwestern part of the province of Drenthe. Meppel is the smallest municipality in Drenthe, with a total area of about 57 km² (22 sq ...

and

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

, and the Roman Catholic Geert Groote College in

. He started to attend

Gymnasium (school) ''Gymnasium'' (and variations of the word) is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term '' preparatory high school''. Bef ...

but later went to the HBS, graduating in 1966. He studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

, graduating in 1974.

Politics

Lankhorst joined the Political Party of Radicals and entered the

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

. He was originally candidate-

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

for education, but

Roel van Duijn Roeland Hugo Gerrit (Roel) van Duijn (born 20 January 1943) is a Dutch politician, political activist and writer. He was a founder of Provo and the Kabouterbeweging. He was alderman for the Political Party of Radicals and later wardcouncillor ...

took this position for the PPR. Lankhorst left the council in 1980. A month later he became civil servant for the municipal department for Youth and Education. After the 1981 election he became MP for the PPR. He was spokesperson on

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

, Transport, Public Works and Water Management and youth welfare. He was one of the first MPs to be openly

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

during his term in parliament. After the 1982 election his former friend

Hans Janmaat Johannes Gerardus Hendrikus "Hans" Janmaat (3 November 1934 – 9 June 2002) was a politics of the Netherlands, Dutch politician of the Centre Party (Netherlands), Centre Party (CP) and later founder of the Centre Democrats (Netherlands), Centre ...

became MP for the right-wing Centre Party. Lankhorst tried to avoid Janmaat as far as possible. In 1989 Lankhorst initiated a law to oblige high schools to promulgate a statute which lays down the rights of students. In 1993 it was adopted. In 1991 the PPR merged with the communist Communist Party of the Netherlands, the left-socialist Pacifist Socialist Party and the

Christian left The Christian left is a range of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel. Given the inherent diversity in international political thoug ...

Evangelical People's Party. Lankhorst continued his membership of the Tweede Kamer under the new formation. When

left the parliament in 1993 in order to make room for a new political leader, which would lead the party in the 1994 election, Lankhorst took over the position of chair of the parliamentary party ad interim. He would not stand for re-election in the 1994 election. In 1994 Lankhorst became a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. After leaving parliament Lankhorst became an alderman in the

submunicipality A deelgemeente (, literally ''part-municipality'') or section (French) is a subdivision of a municipality in Belgium and, until March 2014, in the Netherlands as well. Belgium Each municipality in Belgium that existed as a separate entity on 1 Ja ...

Bos en Lommer in

. He left the position 1998 to become an independent advisor on youth policy.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Drs. P.A. (Peter) Lankhorst
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Lankhorst, Peter 1947 births Living people Dutch columnists Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch political consultants Dutch political writers Gay politicians Dutch gay writers GroenLinks politicians Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Leaders of GroenLinks LGBT members of the Parliament of the Netherlands LGBT Roman Catholics Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors of Amsterdam People from Zwolle Political Party of Radicals politicians University of Amsterdam alumni Writers from Amsterdam 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch male writers