A majority of the Dutch parliament supports a bill to be submitted by opposition party Democrats 66 which would make it illegal for school governors to discriminate against homosexual teachers and students. The Democrats want to scrap the "sole fact" construction from the existing anti-discrimination legislation.

At present "special" schools (those founded on religious or philosophical grounds) are not allowed to sack or refuse to hire a person on the basis of the "sole fact" that he or she is openly gay or involved in a homosexual relationship, unless there are "supplementary circumstances".

In practice, this clause has caused confusion and problems of interpretation. A teacher in the province of Gelderland was suspended last year by the board of a Christian primary school because he had a male partner.

During a party leaders debate held by the gay rights organisation COC on Saturday, the Labour Party, the Socialist Party, Green Left and the conservative VVD all expressed their support for the bill proposed by Democrat MP Boris van der Ham which would put an end to this loophole.

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