State Secretary Ank Bijleveld of Kingdom Relations (CDA) has decided that in the Antilles, the marriage rights for homosexuals do not need to be the same as that of heterosexuals.
D66-Lower House member Boris van der Ham will ask Bijleveld next week to revoke that decision. He finds the reasoning of the cabinet strange: "The state secretary does say that the Dutch Constitution applies to the islands. The constitution prohibits distinctions based on sexual preference." He is of the opinion that homo-couples in the Antilles must have the same marriage rights as hetero couples. This means that the islands cannot make that distinction. Constitutionally, it is a strange argumentation", says van der Ham.
