Amsterdam no longer has any marriage registrars with moral objections to same-sex marriages. News broke a few months ago that two civil servants on the municipal payroll in the Dutch capital were not willing to to marry same-sex couples.
One of the two has been re-assigned to other duties at city hall. The other has been banned from performing marriages until her contract expires at the end of October. On Thursday, a spokesperson for the district where the two worked as marriage registrars confirmed an earlier report published by the COC LGBT rights organisation.
Since 2007, Amsterdam has carried out a policy of only appointing marriage registrars who have no moral objections to marrying gay and lesbian couples. One of the two former registrars was hired prior to 2007. The other stated that she had no objection to performing same-sex marriages when she applied for the job last year.
Same-sex couples have been able to get married in the Netherlands since 1 April 2001. Since then, about 15,000 gay and lesbian couples have tied the knot.
(gsh/ae/tf)
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Email this Bulletin
Printer-friendly version
