After partnership, marriage?
Netherlands Legal partner registration for cohabiting couples has not ended the debate over 'gay marriage' in the Netherlands, Peter Drucker reports. The social democratic-liberal coalition government is planning to submit two new proposed laws to parliament. The net outcome of all this legislation is murky and contradictory.
Both same-sex and opposite-sex couples have been able to register their partnerships legally at Dutch city halls since January 1, 1998. Over 1,800 lesbian and gay couples have taken advantage of the new regulations. Some of them have adopted all the trappings of white veils and black tuxedos, in more or less orthodox combinations.
Curiously enough, this has embarrassed right-wing publisher Henk Krol, whose campaign through his newspaper De Gay Krant was credited with launching the campaign for partnership Now Krol finds the actual ceremonies too camp and insufficiently 'normal. "Really" married
A more significant issue is that registered partners are in fact not really married'. The major difference between "partner registration and marriage under the 1997 law is that registration does not imply parental rights. This leaves lesbian and gay couples, who are allowed to register their partnerships but not to marry, as second-class citizens.
Dutch public opinion recognizes the unfairness of the situation. Polls show a consistent majority in favour of same-sex couples' right to marry and adopt. Parliamentary majorities have taken the same position in votes on a series of nonbinding motions, the first of which passed even before the law on partner registration was adopted.
This puts the coalition cabinet, returned to office in spring 1998 elections, in an awkward position. The Labour Party and left-liberal D66 have leaned towards going along with the public and parliamentary majority, while the right-liberal VVD has been seriously divided on the Issue.
There has been no Christian party in government since 1994, when 70 years of unbroken Christian participation in coalitions (except for the five years of German occupation) came to an end. This deprives the government of an alibi.
The cabinet dealt with the difficulty in time-honoured fashion by appointing a commission, headed by the same Christian Democrat, Kortmann, who headed a commission on the same subject in the early ?90s. The majority, including the chair, favoured opening marriage to same-sex couples, but without parental rights. A minority report favoured giving same-sex couples equal rights to marry
The cabinet now plans to introduce two laws to parliament, probably during 1999. One law would allow same-sex couples to adopt children. Foreign adop-
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tions are ruled out, on the grounds that otherwise foreign countries might refuse to allow adoption by any Dutch couples. But interestingly enough, the law would not limit adoption to couples who have registered their partnerships. In fact it holds open the possibility of adoption by single people, which runs contrary to previous Dutch policy (though the possibility of adoption by single people has been defended with some success in the courts).
It remains to be seen how the Chris-
International Viewpoint #308 February 1999 25
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