This may be a touchy subject and probably even more so around Easter, but the assertion by Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Alexandra van Huffelen that Aruba’s appeal against a same-sex marriage ruling has nothing to do with infringement on its autonomy (see Thursday paper) is correct. The Joint Court of Justice based its decision also for Curaçao mainly on the Dutch Caribbean countries’ constitutions that do not limit the right of civil marriage to between men and women, which is the case for St. Maarten as well.
Another aspect is gay couples who move to these three islands being able to locally register their marriages legally conducted in the Netherlands, including the so-called BES islands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba). That directly concerns citizens being part of the kingdom.
To be sure, the Dutch government is currently not pushing for Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten to allow same sex marriage on their territories. However, a registered partnership that gives the same residential rights is considered necessary to comply with international treaties.
Such legislation was already introduced by Aruba in September 2021. So far Curaçao and St. Maarten have not a yet followed suit, despite stated intentions to do so.
At the time an Aruban poll showed support from 49% of the population for this move, although 46% backed gay marriage too. The latter indicates that it probably won’t be long before that next step is taken.
A draft bill to legalise same-sex marriage was presented by Aruban opposition party Accion21 last June and, in St. Maarten, Party for Progress (PFP) leader Melissa Gumbs announced similar plans after the most recent relevant verdict of December. In Curaçao, three lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups presented their own law proposal to Parliament since 2018.
Opinions will no doubt continue to differ on this issue with heavy religious and cultural connotations, but – at the end of the day – it seems only a matter of time.
