Interview: Paul Hofman
Activism has been in Tieneke Sumter’s (57) blood since childhood. Born in Suriname in the early 1960s to a lesbian mother, she moved to the Netherlands with her mother at age six. She took to the new country and developed a fierce drive to fight injustice. “I commit myself more than one hundred percent to LGBTI+ people.”
No one in her circle is surprised that she became an ambassador for Pride Amsterdam. Her daughters are overjoyed. It’s recognition for her work with minorities. She responds with calm: “When they asked me to be ambassador I did have to catch my breath for a moment.” What motivates her? “If I see something I disagree with, I speak up.” She can be stubborn and resolute. “I think it’s important that we as LGBTI+ people are visible.” She is proud to have been a role model. “If I can save just one life, I will.” She never loses sight of the human dimension.
Socially engaged
Her résumé reads impressively. She spent her early childhood in Paramaribo. She was six when her mother decided to move to the Netherlands. “My parents did not live together.” Much of her childhood was raised by her mother.
They ended up in the Staatsliedenbuurt, where she had a happy childhood. She pauses when she tells how many Black children back then were steered toward domestic schools when choosing secondary education. “My uncle was furious. Through him I got into a comprehensive school in Osdorp.” It turned out to be a great move and Tieneke was given room to develop her talents. It was the swinging sixties and she enjoyed life to the fullest. Her childhood dream was to become a primary school teacher. Would that dream come true?
Instilled from childhood
After secondary school Tieneke studied cultural social work at the Amsterdam Social Academy. “That was what I wanted: to help people with practical support and make that my profession,” she laughs. Social commitment was instilled in her from an early age. “It’s in my genes. The family motto is: if you can do something for someone else, you should do it.”
She came out at seventeen. The moment she became conscious of her feelings for girls is etched clearly on her mind.
No big deal
“I was on holiday in Portugal with some friends. Back in the Netherlands a girl in the group kissed me on the cheek.” She looks at me fondly. “That’s when I knew for sure. This was it.” The girl and she entered a relationship. For her mother it wasn’t a complete surprise. Like mother, like daughter, it seems.
Tieneke says she was never really in the closet. “I think my mother always knew, especially when my girlfriend and I spent so much time together.” In early puberty she had been infatuated with her teacher. “But I didn’t pay much attention to that then.” In hindsight it was nobig dealat all.
Mati women
When she confided ‘it’ to her mother, with whom she has a close bond, her mother was shocked. “Because she feared I might experience what she had gone through, and because she thought I would face a lot of discrimination.” Her mother became her greatest pillar of support. She beams with pride: “She and I were very close.” As a lesbian she was later more or less accepted by her family. “My mother had a busy social life and she stood up formati-women.” Tieneke explains: “Themati-shipis seen as normal in Surinamese society.Mati’sare women who (also) have sexual relationships with women. They don’t necessarily identify with homosexuality. Here in the Netherlands identity is often linked to sexuality.” In every Creole family you’ll find amati, a kind of aunt. “In the Surinamese community it is largely accepted. That is less the case for men.”
Activism
She stares quietly ahead. Then she says: “Around eighteen I started advocating for the interests of Surinamese gay men.” As a student at the Academy social engagement came naturally. Within a year she became the face of the foundation. After her studies she returned to Suriname. The blood is where it belongs, she laughs. “I already had some activism experience.” Her energy and commitment made an impression. She returned not despite, but because of her internship year in Suriname.
Explanation
The December murders in the early eighties had a huge impact on the newly independent country. “I always wanted to return. My mother used to say: I live in the Netherlands but my heart is in Suriname. The same is true for me. Suriname is my country; that’s where my umbilical cord is buried.” The military coup left a deep impression on her.
She lived there until 2016: “In Suriname you may be whatever you want, as long as you don’t name it.” Fortunately that has changed over the years. Tieneke served successively as a policy officer and director of a foundation that works to prevent violence against women and was active in an organisation against child sexual abuse. She became a welcome voice in public debate.
Master’s degree
In the mid‑1990s she returned to the Netherlands to take advanced training in organisation, policy and management. Back in Suriname, the enterprising Tieneke set up her own training and consultancy company running large projects at the intersection of care and welfare. In 2008 she completed her master’s inPublic Health. “It was a fantastic time.”
Positive
Together with her former partner she raised her two children. “We were never judged for it; we were fully accepted. Since 2012 a lot has improved in Suriname regarding homosexuality.” She remains critical. “We still lag behind in legislation and regulation. There’s much work to be done. But support from businesses and civil society is strong.” She looks at those developments with satisfaction. “Society is increasingly aware that gay people are first and foremost fellow human beings with the right to a meaningful life without hiding their orientation.”
Matie
She was also at the founding of the LGBTI-platform Suriname. It’s a network of cooperating LGBTI organisations in Suriname, she explains. For her contribution to LGBTI emancipation in Suriname she received the MATIE in 2017 — the Milestone Achieved Towards Internalizing Equality. She also does much other volunteer work: Tieneke serves on the board of Caribbean and Latin American LGBTI organisations that lobby the Organization of American States (OAS).
Adventurous
In 2016 she returned to Amsterdam. Her youngest daughter wanted to become a pastry chef — a programme not available in Suriname. “I returned for her. Also, I thought if I wanted to do anything more, I had to do it now.” Quite a big step, I remark. “I’m very adventurous by nature, so for me it wasn’t a huge step.” She spent a year working at COC Netherlands. “I became project leader for the Caribbean.” Her contract was not renewed.
Tieneke lowers her eyes. She looks vulnerable. It’s clear she misses her partner. Then: “It’s my greatest dream that she will be at Pride.” Her partner is immensely proud of Tieneke. “We all take Pride in Tieneke.”
The message she will carry at the upcoming Pride: “Equality is a verb. We must do it together; inclusivity goes both ways. We need to have conversations with each other.” She is eager to share that message as ambassador — a strong woman who will hold her own during Pride.
Pride ambassador since 2021
