We knew it was just a question of time.
But in the meanwhile our parliament shirked its responsibility to represent us by its avoidance tactics, which helped vote down the same sex marriage law, and aborted its enactment, despite it being legal in the Netherlands, since April 1st, 2001, and despite successful lawsuits which confirmed it is unconstitutional, to deny it.
Up until this morning, in Aruba and Curacao, the law offered a kind of registered partnership, which keeps couples ‘equal-but-separate,’ a policy applied in the US where African Americans could ride the bus, only occupying the back seats. That policy amounted to segregation, discrimination, and inequality.
Aruba’s religious leader played a prudish, narrow-minded, 19th century puritanical role in the failure of the law to pass. They made despicable attempts to paint same sex marriage as abnormal, unnatural, and detrimental to mental health, a menace to society, especially to kids, and spearheaded the denial of equal treatment and fundamental human rights, thus dodging the constitution, until this morning 9am.
A few of the local activists went to the Netherlands to witness, in court, the historic event. According to Egmar Irausquin, Secretary of the pride foundation “Fundacion Orguyo,” an LGBTQ+ rights activist who was present in the Supreme Court when the rights of LGBTQ+ community members were ratified, ending discrimination once and for all, reports: “This marks the first step towards equality. Now, we must continue fostering acceptance, respect, and understanding within our community to help eradicate fear and misunderstanding. The same sex marriage law is not a threat to society at large,” he concluded.
At the end of a five-year struggle, we can finally hear wedding bells.
