Editing Pim Fortuyn (section)

==== Professional career ====
[[File:Pim Fortuyn, Jan Willem de Pous, Willem Dercksen en Teun Jaspers (1982).jpg|thumb|Pim Fortuyn with [[Jan Willem de Pous]] at a presentation of ''Thirty-Five Years of SER recommendations'' (1982)]]
Fortuyn worked as a lecturer at the [[Nyenrode Business Universiteit]] and as an associate professor at the [[University of Groningen]], where he taught [[Marxist]] sociology. He was also an employee of the Groningen University Newspaper for which he wrote columns. He was a Marxist at the time and sympathized with the [[Communist Party of the Netherlands]] (CPN), although he never became a full member.<ref>[http://www.nu.nl/boek/2783454/cpn-weigerde-fortuyn-lidmaatschap.html "CPN weigerde Fortuyn lidmaatschap"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116083200/https://www.nu.nl/boek/2783454/cpn-weigerde-fortuyn-lidmaatschap.html |date=16 January 2021 }}, nu.nl, 10 april 2012</ref> Later, he joined the [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]]. In 1989 Fortuyn became director of a [[Politics of the Netherlands|government]] organisation administering student transport cards and worked as a research assistant and advisor to the [[Social and Economic Council]] (SER). In 1990 he moved to [[Rotterdam]]. From 1991 to 1995, he was an extraordinary professor at the [[Erasmus University Rotterdam]], appointed to the Albeda-chair in "employment conditions in public service" and ran an education consultancy business.

When his teaching contract in Rotterdam ended, Fortuyn made a career of public speaking, writing books and press columns, and worked as a weekly columnist for ''[[Elsevier (magazine)|Elsevier]].'' He gradually involved himself in politics through regularly appearing on televised debate shows and became a familiar public figure for his charismatic and flamboyant speaking style. In 1994 he began hosting his own radio program on ''[[RTV Rijnmond]]'' and often appeared on the political debate show ''[[Buitenhof (TV series)|Buitenhof]]'' and later as a commentator on the business current affairs program ''Business Class'' on [[RTL Nederland]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=79990&page=1|title = Fortuyn: Controversial, Flamboyant and Dead|website = [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080605013208/http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/nederland/artikel/asp/artnr/122074/index.html "Pim Fortuyn – Oprecht en onmogelijk"], ''Elsevier'', 13 juli 2002, vervolgpagina (via ''Internet Archive'')</ref> Fortuyn was openly gay, and said in a 2002 interview that he was Catholic.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.katholieknieuwsblad.nl/actueel19/kn1920a.htm|first=Mark | last=Eyck|title=Interview: Pim Fortuyn|work=[[Katholiek Nieuwsblad]] (Catholic Newspaper)|date=15 February 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020306021624/http://www.katholieknieuwsblad.nl/actueel19/kn1920a.htm|archive-date=6 March 2002|url-status=dead}} <br />" Question: U beschouwt zichzelf nog wel als katholiek? Answer: Ja, daar ontkom je niet aan. [..] Question: Toch noemt u zich ondanks uw homoseksualiteit nog steeds katholiek. Answer: Ik bén katholiek! Ik ben nota bene gedoopt! Ik noem me niet zo, ik ben het!" (''Question: Do you still consider yourself a Catholic?  Answer: Yes, you can't escape from that. [..] Question: But in spite of your homosexuality you still call yourself a Catholic. Answer: I ''am'' a Catholic. I have, after all, been baptised!  I don't call myself one, I am one!'')</ref>