Free Willie: Amsterdam naked gay bar tackles intolerance

In an Amsterdam bar, six men cluster around the pool table arguing good-naturedly about how to rack the balls. Everyone is stark naked from the ankle up: welcome to Free Willie.

The only naked bar in Amsterdam catering for the LGBTQ+ community, Free Willie's punters and managers see it as a safe haven in a city where tolerance -- and fun -- is in decline.

Located in a beautiful canalside house, the interior decor is unashamedly phallic. Brass penis-shaped knobs jut proudly out from walls to hang hats and clothes. The bar area is illuminated with neon penis lights.

Almost everyone wears shoes and more prudish customers can sport underwear, but "we discourage that," laughed owner Richard Keldoulis, a genial 61-year-old originally from Sydney.

"We try to get them all naked. Often you see that if everyone is naked, the one or two holdouts eventually take their underwear off too," he told AFP at the bar.

Throwing off clothes helps people throw off their inhibitions, he said. "People are definitely more open and relaxed... I think there's less attitude."

Manager Anne Rodermond, 45, said stripping off actually "breaks down barriers". "There's no body shaming and it's very comfortable and OK to be naked with each other," he said.

And it's not about sex, insists Keldoulis, who also owns a sauna and nightclub, although Free Willie does offer dark areas and side sections with thick red velvet curtains for privacy.

"The whole idea is just to hang out at the bar and be naked with other people," he said.

Thursday night, when AFP visited, is pool night at Free Willie. Cue many jokes about balls and pockets. Winner gets the coveted "nutcracker" trophy and the 50-euro top prize.

- 'Sexually tickling' -

Two pool players, Erik de Roo and Philip Bodifee, laughed when asked about the sexual element of the bar.

De Roo, a 67-year-old retired flight attendant, described the bar as "sexually tickling". "You see other men naked and you think, well, you know...," he giggled.

"For me, it's more about freedom than sexuality," retorted his partner Bodifee, 56. "But hey, I'm not blind, so I do get inspired."

Away from the gaiety, there is a deadly serious point: everyone said the bar offered the community a safe place amid rising intolerance and even violence.

For decades, the Netherlands has been seen as a byword for liberalism and a haven for the LGBTQ+ community, with Amsterdam the inner sanctum of anything-goes hedonism.

But times have changed. The Netherlands dropped to 14th place in Europe in the Rainbow Index, which measures gay rights across the continent, with concerns growing over hate crimes.

When Rikkie Kolle became the first transgender woman to be selected as Miss Netherlands last year, she reported receiving several death threats.

In an incident that made headlines across the country, a group of football fans disrupted a meeting of the under-18 "Young and Out" community, called them "cancer gays", tried to burn a rainbow flag, and beat an adult volunteer.

Bodifee said he was himself the victim of verbal abuse just a week ago, when a group of teenagers screamed "homo" at him.

"We do need safe spaces because most gay venues have become loaded with heterosexuals, which is not a problem, but for a lot of queer people, it's not safe anymore," he told AFP.

- 'Gay or queer' -

Owner Keldoulis said gay Amsterdam was unrecognisable from when he arrived 30 years ago from Australia. He estimated there were more than 100 gay venues then, down to around 20 now.

"This whole street was all gay. Now a lot of the gay venues have gone. It's really so important that we have places where we can come together, where all the staff is gay or queer," he said.

"If you go to regular clubs, there's still discrimination... so I think it's really important we have our own spaces."

Another aspect of Amsterdam that has changed over the decades is a hardening attitude towards sex, Keldoulis said.

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema wants to move the city's famous red-light district out of the centre to a purpose-built area on the outskirts.

"It's very, very hard to open anything in Amsterdam connected to sex... I think that's a real shame because a lot of the queer venues have a sort of sexual element to them," he said.

"Sex, drugs, and rock and roll: they don't want that image in the city any more. To me that's a shame, because it's why I came here."

And what better way to fight back for tolerance and fun than a bar like Free Willie, believe the owners and regulars.

"One naked bar at a time," said Keldoulis.