Posted on 05/27/2004 5:55:55 PM PDT by Cracker72
AMSTERDAM - Like a lot of politicians, the mayor of Leeuwarden, a small town about 60 miles north of the Dutch capital, is married.
It's just that his spouse happens to be a man.
Same-sex marriage may be making headlines in America, but here in the land of tulips and canals - not to mention state-sanctioned marijuana cafes, brothels and euthanasia - it's yesterday's news.
In 2000, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize gay nuptials. These days they have become so unremarkable that the city council of Leeuwarden felt no compunction in nominating Geert Dales, a former Amsterdam alderman who married his longtime partner in 2002, to lead their midsized borough.
"People there said, 'A decade ago that wouldn't have been possible,' " said Job Cohen, Amsterdam's mayor, who wrote the legislation as a member of parliament and married the first couples at City Hall. "But now, nobody cares."
The Dutch have long lived on the cutting edge of social tolerance, allowing high-grade cannabis to be sold in "coffee shops," lingerie-clad prostitutes to display their wares in street-side windows, and doctors to perform patient-requested mercy killings. But on the issue of same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is not far outside what's becoming the European mainstream.
Counting the Netherlands, 10 European countries now recognize gay unions. The list includes Belgium, which became the second country to legalize same-sex marriage, and seven others - France, Germany, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway - that allow registered partnerships designed to grant homosexual couples the same legal rights as married heterosexuals. Portugal has a more limited civil-unions law.
Among Western Europe's most populous nations, only heavily Catholic Italy, where the Vatican wields significant influence over politics, has not addressed gay partnerships.
The list of countries offering gay-marriage rights is expected to expand. Spain's left-wing prime minister has pledged to grant them, and Sweden's parliament is considering a bill to do the same. Switzerland and Britain are moving toward enacting civil-partnership proposals. Civil unions also are under consideration in Ireland and the Czech Republic.
Gay marriage is legal in Canada's three most populous provinces. In France, a battle is brewing over whether to allow full marriage as well as civil partnerships.
"It's not a particularly fast-moving trend, but it's definitely a trend," said Lee Badgett, a labor economist at the University of Massachusetts who has spent the last seven months in Amsterdam studying same-sex marriage.
Backers of gay unions argue that their existence in Europe has not harmed the institution of marriage as opponents feared it would, and critics have offered no data to refute that. Analysts disagree, though, about whether the European and Canadian political currents propelling acceptance of the unions will migrate to the United States, despite what happened recently in Massachusetts, which on May 17 became the first U.S. state to allow gay marriage.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
When they broke the news to their children, their 11-year-old, Paula, didn't believe there could be a proper marriage without a white wedding dress, and she wondered which of the men would wear one.
My ancestors left Europe for a reason. This article pretty much says we should emulate Europe. I am going to live under da SEA and hook up with Ariel if that happens, I guess.
(pop culture reference... my apologies)
APf
That is a lie, no doubt a deliberate one. It's like the lie that abortion has made children wanted and loved, or euthanasia has promoted respect for the elderly and frail.
I find this very interesting, because one never hears the argument that our enlightened European brothers already permit gay marriage. I figured that meant the U.S. was close to the first. Just how did all these other socialist paradises (including the libertine Scandanavians, french, etc.) miss the boat on gay marriage? Obviously, we have been duped into accepting the most aggressive radical gay movement in the World.
For a second there, I thought you meant Ariel Sharon. I may need to take some time away from News and Politics.
"...The Dutch have long lived on the cutting edge of social tolerance,
allowing high-grade cannabis to be sold in coffee shops,
lingerie-clad prostitutes to display their wares in street-side windows,
and doctors to perform patient-requested mercy killings..."
- - -
Well, this is exactly what I DON'T want our society to emulate.
Why should Americans want to be more like the Douch?
We have a lot to look forward to.
when was the last time the dutch won a war?
PS hasnt affect the institute of marriage??? no one gets married in europe anymore and the birth rates are in the toliet!
The Mayor and his wife have threesomes with Rover their pet Dachshund.
| What We Can Do To Help Defeat the "Gay" Agenda |
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| Homosexual Agenda: Categorical Index of Links (Version 1.1) |
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| Myth and Reality about Homosexuality--Sexual Orientation Section, Guide to Family Issues" |
"The Mayor and his wife have threesomes with Rover their pet Dachshund."
That's okay 'cause rover is married to them also.
Homosexual Agenda and Media Bias Nausea Alert. :-(
Make sure you click the links which are refutations of the lies in the article. Just pinged you all so you know the crap the Midstream Media is spewing, this is what most people read and believe.
Right, "gay" marriage in the Netherlands and other European nations hasn't damaged normal marriage AT ALL! Everything is just hunkey-dorey! And look - mercy killing too! Will wonders never cease.
It looks as though paradise on Earth is just around the corner. When people try to engineer utopia, look out - things get more and more like hell instantly.
Let me know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.
Thanks for the ping.
bttt
what is the NATO tank competetiong??
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