1. Boris Dittrich grew up in Utrecht and went to law school at Leiden University, working as a lawyer in Amsterdam from 1981 until 1989 and later as a judge in the district court of Alkmaar from 1989 until 1994.
17 Facts About Boris Dittrich
1. 2.
In 1994 Boris Dittrich became a member of the House of Representatives representing the social-liberal party Democrats 66.
3.
Boris Dittrich rose to become D66 party leader in 2003 after Thom de Graaf stepped down because of disappointing results in the 2003 general election.
4.
Boris Dittrich negotiated the participation of D66 in the second Balkenende cabinet with the Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy.
5.
Boris Dittrich decided not to become a minister but to remain party leader in Parliament in order to monitor how the new government would execute the coalition agreement.
6.
Boris Dittrich was strongly against Dutch military participation in the Afghan province of Uruzgan and he tried to persuade both the government and Parliament not to get involved in the war.
7.
Boris Dittrich was a highly productive parliamentarian; he is the first member ever to have drafted four different private member's bills that have successfully become law.
8.
Boris Dittrich took the initiative for laws against stalking; for the rights of victims to speak during a criminal trial; for abolishing the time limits on prosecution of crimes like murder and manslaughter; and he wrote the law to fix book prices in order to protect smaller bookshops, authors and customers.
9.
Boris Dittrich was the first openly gay member of Parliament who focused on LGBT rights.
10.
Boris Dittrich is a strong advocate for human rights and represented the Dutch Parliament on numerous occasions at meetings in the United Nations.
11.
Boris Dittrich was a member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action and was vice president of Liberal International until October 2007.
12.
Boris Dittrich continued in his role as a member of Parliament until the 22 November 2006 general election.
13.
Boris Dittrich worked on different levels to achieve non-discrimination and equal rights for LGBT people.
14.
Mid 2013 Boris Dittrich moved from New York to Berlin, Germany where he continued to work as global advocacy director of the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch until October 2018.
15.
In 2019 Boris Dittrich was elected as senator in the Dutch Senate for his political party D66.
16.
In 2013 Boris Dittrich received a golden pin on behalf of the Dutch Postcode Lottery for his LGBT work for Human Rights Watch.
17.
In 2019 Boris Dittrich received the 'Living Legend Award' from the organization Workplace Pride in the Netherlands and the Jillis Bruggeman Penning from the city of Schiedam for his work promoting LGBT rights.