AMSTERDAM, 06/09/07 - The official interest organisation for homosexuals, COC, has launched a website that concentrates entirely on fostering contact between homosexual boys and girls under the age of 16.

From today, Jong&Out, the COC youth group, will make it possible for "young gays" to set up a personal profile and come in contact with peers. The new website (jongenout.nl) is an initiative from a number of children who took part in the Gay Pride boat parade through the Amsterdam canals last month. This was permitted after initial doubts by Emancipation Minister Ronald Plasterk and Mayor Job Cohen.

Making contacts for sex is something that the target group "does not yet concern itself with very much", according to the COC. "The main reason for young people of this age to seek contact is to talk to each other, about their doubts and about the feelings they experience," COC chairman Frank van Dalen observed.

The under-16 gays in Jong&Out maintain the website themselves. The COC fulfils a supporting role, with particular emphasis on ensuring that the site is not visited by paedophiles.