On December 7, 1946, the COC in Amsterdam comes into being under the name Shakespeare Club. The organization emerged from the readership of the magazine Levensrecht. This magazine for homosexuals had been published since March 1940, but soon went underground due to World War II. In 1949, the Shakespeare Club was renamed the Culture and Entertainment Center: the C.O.C. Niek Engelschman, using the pseudonym Bob Angelo, became its first president (read here more about Bob Angelo, the Bob Angelo Fund and the Bob Angelo Medal)

In the first decades of our existence, we focus on organizing shelter and social activities for lesbian, gay and bisexual people. After Amsterdam, COCs emerged in The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht, among others. Together with others, we campaigned for the abolition of the discriminatory article 248-bis of the Penal Code. That article stated that homosexual contact with people between the ages of 16 and 21 was punishable, while heterosexual contact was allowed from the age of 16. The COC also pushed for official recognition ("royal assent") of its own organization, long opposed by the authorities. Article 248-bis was abolished in 1971 and official recognition of the COC followed in 1973. In the 1970s the COC achieved that homosexuals were no longer automatically rejected for military service because of "mental instability" (or: S5). Since the early years of its existence, the COC has also championed the position of the rainbow community in other countries.

In the beginning, we take a cautious course; homosexuality is still a major social taboo. Characteristically, the organization (Shakespeare Club) and the first president (Bob Angelo) operate under a pseudonym. That changes when Benno Premsela becomes president (from 1962 to 1971). He becomes the first openly gay activist to appear on Dutch television. Social attitudes about (homo)sexuality begin to change: where in 1968 more than 35 percent of the Dutch population was still outspokenly negative towards homosexuals, today it is less than 10 percent.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the COC focuses primarily on combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic and drafting anti-discrimination legislation. When AIDS struck gay men mercilessly in the 1980s, the Dutch government accepted the COC as a discussion partner on behalf of the gay community. There are targeted prevention campaigns and specific assistance. The plea by the COC and other organizations for better anti-discrimination legislation resulted in the General Equal Treatment Act (1994), which, among other things, prohibits discrimination on the basis of homosexual orientation. While the COC initially advocates the total abolition of civil marriage (the organization wants an individualized relationship model), in 1995 it joins the plea of people like Kees Waaldijk, Henk Krol and Jan-Wolter Wabeke for opening marriage to same-sex couples. Opening of marriage followed on April 1, 2001, and from this point on, anyone who loves each other may marry each other.

From the early years of the 21e century, the COC has been making the case for a third phase in lhbti+ emancipation. After ending the last forms of criminalization (article 248-bis, first phase) and largely achieving equal rights (opening up marriage, second phase), the COC advocates the pursuit of social acceptance (third phase). The non-discrimination norms enshrined in law must now be reflected in society. Preliminary highlight is that education about lhbti+ persons, after years of advocacy by the COC, has been mandatory in every school in the Netherlands since 2012. The government is also developing a stronger lhbti+ emancipation policy at COC's insistence.

The COC continues to advocate for equal rights. These include the possibility for same-sex couples to adopt a foreign child (2009), better legal status for lesbian parents and their children (2014), a simplified procedure for trans people to change their official gender registration and a ban on discrimination for gender identity, gender expression and sexual characteristics (2019) . There was also a legal ban on hiring "refusal officers," and religious schools are no longer allowed to expel students and teachers because of their sexual identity. With Express so the COC has also had an independently operating lhbti+ youth platform since 1995.

Where we have been advocating for trans people for some time, in 2012 our objectives also officially state that we stand up against discrimination for gender identity and expression. We have additionally begun to work closely with the intersex movement; in 2017, our objectives stipulate that we work against discrimination because of gender characteristics. Together, we are working against discrimination and prejudice about the pigeonholes people should fit into based on their birth sex, who they fall in love with, how they are supposed to behave and what kind of body they should have. 

To increase the effect and reach of our work, we work together with numerous civil society organizations. For example, we work for the over-50s with ANBO, for health care without prejudice with Women Inc. and with Pan African ILGA and ILGA Asia for human rights of lhbti+ persons in Africa and Asia. We also work closely with Transgender Network Netherlands (TNN), the Dutch organization for gender diversity (NNID) and Bi+ Netherlands. 

COC Netherlands has been located at Nieuwe Herengracht in Amsterdam since 2011 and has a professional organization of about thirty people. 

For more information on the history of the COC, see, for example: Rob Tielman, Homosexuality in the Netherlands (Boom Publishers, Meppel, 1982); Gert Hekma, Homosexuality in the Netherlands from 1730 to Modern Times (Meulenhoff Publishers, Amsterdam, 2004); Pieter Koenders and Hans Warmerdam, Cultuur en Ontspanning - Het COC 1946-1966 (Publicatiereeks Homostudies, Utrecht, 1987); or consult the International Gay/Lesbian Information Center and Archive, IHLIA.