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Netherlands
Same-sex “marriage”
Dutch parliament passes bills
The parliament of the Netherlands has passed a law changing the European country’s “registered same-sex partnerships” into same-sex “marriage,” making it equivalent to heterosexual marriage with all the same rights and benefits.
The MPs pounded their desks in approval as the bill passed 109-33, and proponents heralded the move as the greatest advance in “gay rights” in the world. The Netherlands has moved faster than any other country in the world in enshrining other radical, liberal views, with legalized prostitution, drug use, and euthanasia. The few small Christian parties in the parliament were unable to secure a strong opposition.
In Norway and Sweden, same-sex couples can register their partnerships, and Denmark allowed limited same-sex “marriage” in 1989, but the Netherlands expanded the legal relationships to include adoption, divorce, government benefits, and inheritance.
Boris Dittrich, a member of the centrist Democrats 66 party and a proponent of the plan, said the law “acknowledges that a person’s sex is not of importance for marriage.” He spoke during what he called “the most moving debate” of his parliamentary career. All three parliamentary factions in the governing coalition—the left-of-center Labor Party, the Liberal VVD, and the smaller Democrats 66—backed the proposal. Even a few members of the biggest opposition party, the largely traditional Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA) expressed support.
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