SXMElections.com

THE HAGUE--The Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday adopted a motion which called on the Dutch Government to urge the Governments of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten to legalise same sex marriages and to improve the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs).

The Parliament approved the motion of the liberal democratic VVD party, the Labour Party PvdA and the Democratic Party D66. Aside from the VVD, PvdA and D66, the motion was supported by, among others, the Christian Democratic Party CDA, the green left party GroenLinks, the Socialist Party SP and the Party for Animals PvdD. Several independent members also voted in favour.

The motion was presented on June 16, 2015, during a meeting of the Permanent Committee for Foreign Relations with Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders about gay rights throughout the world on the initiative of Member of the Second Chamber Sjoerd Sjoerdsma of the Democratic D66 Party who had written a paper on this topic.

During that debate, Member of Parliament Han ten Broeke (VVD) submitted a motion calling on the Dutch Government to facilitate the legalisation and acceptance of same sex marriages in Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten. The motion was co-signed by Pia Dijkstra (D66) and Michiel Servaes (PvdA).

According to the motion, the governments of the three Dutch Caribbean countries were doing too little to secure the rights of LGBTs. Same sex marriages are not possible in Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten. This is in contrast to the Netherlands, and by extension the Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

The VVD, PvdA and D66 stressed that LGBTs should be able to live in freedom and security throughout the Kingdom, and asked the Dutch Government to urge the island governments to legalise same sex marriages and to improve the position of LGBTs. In the motion, the three parties pointed out that the Netherlands has a responsibility to remind other partners in the Kingdom of the importance of human rights.

Ten Broeke questioned why the law on the islands stated that a marriage could only be a connection between a man and woman. He remarked that the Curaçao Government boycotted the first Gay Pride a year and a half, and that the St. Maarten Government rejected the call by The Hague to make sexual diversity part of the school curriculum.

Ten Broeke said that there were people on the islands who lost their job or home when the boss or the landlord found out that they were not heterosexual. "Let alone that this group can claim partner rights or adopt a child," he said.