Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
has been legal in the Netherlands since 1 April 2001. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriage was passed in the House of Representatives by 109 votes to 33 on 12 September 2000 and by the Senate by 49 votes to 26 on 19 December. The law received royal assent by Queen Beatrix on 21 December, and took effect on 1 April 2001. The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Polling suggests that a significant majority of Dutch people support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, special municipalities of the Netherlands, since 10 October 2012, and in the constituent countries of Aruba and Curaçao since 12 July 2024. The other constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Sint Maarten, does not perform or fully recognize same-sex marriages.
Unregistered cohabitation
occurs when a same-sex or opposite-sex couple cohabits but chooses to keep the legal status of their relationship unregistered or informal. This means all worldwide assets that belong to a single party remain the sole property of the party with no legal entitlement by the other party, whether owned before or acquired during the relationship. The couple can record a contract with a notary to receive some limited financial benefits, including for tax and pension purposes. However, the benefits are limited, e.g. the father or non-biological mother is not automatically recognized as a parent after the birth of a child, and upon the death of one of the partners, the other partner is not considered an heir. This legal status of unregistered partnerships is respected by Dutch courts.The Netherlands was one of the first countries in the world to recognise cohabiting same-sex couples by law. The first law recognising the cohabitation of same-sex couples was passed in 1979 for the purposes of rent law. Further legislation was passed in 1981 to recognise cohabiting couples for the purposes of inheritance tax.
Registered partnerships
On 1 January 1998, registered partnerships were introduced in Dutch law. The partnerships were meant for same-sex couples as an alternative to marriage, though they can also be entered into by opposite-sex couples, and in fact about one third of the registered partnerships between 1999 and 2001 were of opposite-sex couples. In law, registered partnerships and marriage convey the same rights and duties, especially after some laws were changed to remedy inequalities with respect to inheritance and some other issues.Partnerships have become particularly common among Dutch couples, with about 18,000 new partnerships registered every year.
Same-sex marriage
Legislative action
As early as the mid 1980s, a group of gay rights activists, headed by Henk Krol – then editor-in-chief of the Gay Krant – asked the government to allow same-sex couples to marry. By 1995, about 100 municipalities had opened an alternative "marriage register", into which some 300 same-sex couples had inscribed. That year, the municipality of Rheden said that if government did not legalize same-sex marriage it would proceed with conducting same-sex weddings. Haarlem declared it would do the same or stop issuing marriage licenses altogether. The States General of the Netherlands decided in 1995 to create a special commission to investigate the possibility of recognizing same-sex marriages. At that time, the Christian Democratic Appeal was not part of the ruling coalition for the first time since the introduction of full democracy. The special commission finished its work in 1997 and concluded that civil marriage should be extended to include same-sex couples. After the 1998 general election, the Second Kok Cabinet promised to tackle the issue. In September 2000, the legislation was debated in the Dutch Parliament.The marriage bill passed the House of Representatives by 109 votes to 33 on 12 September 2000.
| Party | Voted for | Voted against | Absent |
| Labour Party | |||
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | – | ||
| Christian Democratic Appeal | |||
| Democrats 66 | – | – | |
| GroenLinks | – | ||
| Socialist Party | – | – | |
| Christian Union | – | – | |
| Reformed Political Party | – | – | |
| Total | 33 | 8 | |
| Total |
The Senate approved the bill on 19 December 2000 by 49 to 26 votes. Only the Christian parties, which held 26 of the 75 seats at the time, voted against the bill. Although the Christian Democratic Appeal would form the next government, they did not indicate any intention to repeal the law.
| Party | Voted for | Voted against | Absent |
| Christian Democratic Appeal | – | – | |
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | – | – | |
| Labour Party | – | – | |
| GroenLinks | – | – | |
| Democrats 66 | – | – | |
| Christian Union | – | – | |
| Socialist Party | – | – | |
| Reformed Political Party | – | – | |
| Independent Senate Group | – | – | |
| Total | 26 | 0 | |
| Total |
Queen Beatrix gave her royal assent to the legislation on 21 December 2000. The main article of the law changed article 1:30 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek to read as follows:
- in
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In Dutch, same-sex marriage is known as huwelijk tussen personen van gelijk geslacht or more commonly as homohuwelijk. Similarly, in West Frisian, it is known as houlik tusken persoanen fan itselde geslacht or more commonly as homohoulik.
Requirements and rights
Dutch law requires that either partner have Dutch nationality or have residency in the Netherlands. The marriageable age in the Netherlands is 18. The law is only valid in the European territory of the Netherlands and on the Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, but does not apply to the other constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.The only legal difference between same-sex marriages and heterosexual marriages was that, in the former, parentage by both partners was not automatic. Under Dutch civil law, the legal mother of a child is the biological mother, while the father is, in principle, the man to whom she is married or with whom she has a registered partnership at the time of birth. Additionally, the father must be male. As a result, for lesbian couples, the non-biological partner could only become a legal parent through adoption. However, when the biological father did not acquire legal parenthood—such as in cases of artificial insemination—the two female spouses could automatically obtain joint parental authority. In December 2013, the Dutch Parliament amended the law to allow automatic parenthood for lesbian couples. The new law, which came into effect on 1 April 2014, stipulates that the co-mother in a marriage or registered partnership with the biological mother is automatically recognized as a legal parent if the sperm donor is anonymous. In cases involving a known donor, the biological mother decides whether the donor or the co-mother will be the child's second legal parent.
On 6 April 2016, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders and Minister of Security and Justice Ard van der Steur confirmed the Dutch position that, like other couples, same-sex couples who are not Dutch residents or nationals cannot marry in the country. The ministers argued that it might lead to "practical and legal problems" and could even be "dangerous" to some participants. The move came after the Liberal Democratic Party had asked the ministers to look into allowing non-resident foreigners to take advantage of the Netherlands' same-sex marriage law.
Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten
, Curaçao and Sint Maarten have separate civil codes from the Netherlands. As a result, same-sex marriage was not automatically legalised in these constituent countries by the 2001 law. On 12 July 2024, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld a lower court ruling that the same-sex marriage bans in Aruba and Curaçao were discriminatory and unconstitutional, effectively legalising same-sex marriage in both constituent countries. This makes Sint Maarten the only constituent country where same-sex marriages cannot be performed, though Dutch marriages are recognized there to some extent. Indeed, all territories of the Kingdom register same-sex marriages performed in the Netherlands following an earlier Supreme Court ruling. In 2007, the court ruled that all vital records recorded within the Kingdom are valid throughout its constituent countries, based on its interpretation of the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. However, subsequent rulings have clarified that same-sex marriages are not automatically entitled to the same privileges as opposite sex marriages.Aruba has also recognised registered partnerships offering several of the rights and benefits of marriage since September 2021. Curaçao and Sint Maarten do not perform registered partnerships.