Government Presents Plans on Partnerships and Family
THE HAGUE. Last week, as expected, justice parliamentary undersecretary
Mrs. Schmitz in a letter to Dutch parliament presented the government's ideas
on laws concerning relationships, adoption and family. The main point from her
letter termed the "Nota Leefvormen" is that she does not favour the opening up
of marriage to gays, as was hoped by gay lobbying groups. Also she does not
advocate adoption by single parents of a foreign child contrary to a ruling in
a Dutch court this spring allowing the adoption of a Brazilian girl by a single
Dutch woman. As, in her view, adoption by single parents and gay couples would
lead to negative reactions from other, especially third-world, countries where
most children adopted in Holland come from, she proposes to allow adoption in
these cases only when the adopted child is Dutch. But as only some 40 Dutch
children are put up for adoption each year with demand much higher and Dutch
law states that the natural mother has to agree with the family adopting the
child it is expected that the natural mother of the child will in the vast
majority of cases prefer the child to grow up with a heterosexual married
couple.
Organisations working in the field of adoption welcomed the restrictions
fearing non-cooperation from other countries from which some 700 children are
adopted in Holland each year. The N.V.I.H.-COC (Dutch gay liberation movement)
in a first reaction termed the idea of not allowing gay couples to adopt
"unacceptable", as the welfare of the child only depends on growing up in a
stable home, whether this be provided by a single parent, a gay or a
heterosexual married or unmarried couple. The COC is glad that via single
parent adoption an indirect possibility is created for gay couples to adopt.
Marriage will, in the government's plan, not be opened up to gays. Although in
favour of giving the same rights to registered gay and straight partnerships as
married couples Mrs. Schmitz stops short of opening up marriage altogether,
in this case following the official party line of the Social Democrat Party PvdA.
The COC in its first reaction is pleased to see that at last the govermnent put
the legal situation of gay couples on the agenda and expressed hope that unlike
in the case of the law on equal treatment the proposals would quickly lead to
changes in legislation. The COC is disappointed at the decision not to open up
marriage to gays, thereby perpetuating a discriminatory situation and
unneccesarily complicating the process of lawmaking. This point of view can be
termed remarkable, as the COC until recently rejected the idea of
partnership-registration and gay marriage, as merely an "emulation of straight
marriage". The COC's final reaction, according to COC-lobbyists will be
"highly critical" of the government's plans. A survey this spring by
"De Gay Krant" showed a majority of the Dutch population favouring adoption by
gay couples and making it possible for gay couples to marry instead of
"registering their relationship" with hardly any legal consequences.
Political Parties Favour Gay marriage.
THE HAGUE. Contrary to the ideas expressed in Mrs. Schmitz letter to parliament
regarding partnership registration it looks like a majority in Dutch parliament
will be in favour of opening up marriage to gay couples, with possible
restrictions only in the field of parental rights (a gay couple's child often
stems from an earlier straight relationship) and adoption. Coalition partners
VVD (Liberals) and D'66 (Social Liberals) and the opposition Green party,
together holding 60 seats in the 150-seat Dutch lower house, have declared
themselves in favour of opening up marriage to gays.
Much depends on the Social Democrat PvdA (37 seats), which officially favours a
seperate registration of gay and straight unmarried couples. It is quite likely
however that enough Labour-MP's will oppose the goverment plans to tip the
balance in parliament, in effect telling Mrs. Schmitz, also a member of the
PvdA, to do her homework again. Mrs. Schmitz, who when she was mayor of Haarlem
showed herself a pragmatic and energetic politician, is said to be willing to
meet the wishes of parliament. The discussion in parliament will probably not
lead up to a single new bill, but will lay the foundation for a number of
changes in current legislation.
The Christian fundamentalist parties and the right-wing CD (together 10 seats)
are expected to resist any changes in the laws, although this spring the
fundamentalist SGP did put forward the idea of registering unmarried couples
but only so that their social benefits could be cut to the level of married
couples, without giving them any of the rights of married couples. The idea was
not taken seriously.
The opposition CDA (Christian Democrats, 34 seats) is generally positive towards
the governent plan, with the exception of allowing single parents to adopt.