Same-sex marriage 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 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, 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 the 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.

+ 12 September 2000 vote in the House of Representatives Party Voted for Voted against Absent (Did not vote) 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

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.

+ 19 December 2000 vote in the Senate Party Voted for Voted against Absent (Did not vote) 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

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 in

(A marriage can be entered into by two persons of different or the same sex.)

The law came into effect on 1 April 2001, and on that day four same-sex couples were married by the Mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, who became a registrar specifically to officiate at the weddings. A few months earlier, Cohen had been junior Minister of Justice of the Netherlands and was responsible for putting the new marriage and adoption laws through Parliament.

In Dutch, same-sex marriage is known as or more commonly as (). Similarly, in West Frisian, it is known as or more commonly as ().

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 and different-sex 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 (article 1:198), 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 (article 1:199). 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 (article 1:253sa). 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

Aruba, 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 (e.g. social security) 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.

Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba

Same-sex marriage became legal in the Caribbean Netherlands—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba—following the entry into force of a law enabling same-sex couples to marry on 10 October 2012.

Opposition In 2007, controversy arose when the new Fourth Balkenende Cabinet announced in its policy statement that officials who objected to same-sex marriage on principle could refuse to marry such couples. Some municipal councils governed by the Labour Party and GroenLinks opposed this policy, arguing that the job of a registrar is to marry all couples, not only opposite-sex couples. The opposition parties stated that if a registrar opposed same-sex marriages, they should not hold that post. The municipality of Amsterdam announced that it would not comply with this policy, and that registrars there would still be obliged to marry same-sex couples. In reaction, many other municipalities announced their rejection of the proposal as well. The cabinet claimed that this issue lay solely within the remit of the central government. In practice, municipalities could decide whether or not to hire registrars who object to marrying same-sex couples.

In 2014, Parliament passed a law that made it illegal for marriage officiants to refuse their services to same-sex couples. Previously, they could refuse to marry same-sex couples as long as municipalities ensured that other officiants were available to solemnize the marriages.

Royal same-sex weddings In October 2021, Prime Minister Mark Rutte confirmed that members of the Dutch royal family may enter into same-sex marriages without having to forfeit the crown, or lose their royal title and privileges or their place in the line of succession. Previously, the government had held that if an heir wanted to marry a partner of the same sex, they would have to forfeit their right to the throne.

Impact A 2021 study by economists Shuai Chen and Jan van Ours showed that from 2001 onwards levels of anxiety and depression fell drastically among individuals in same-sex relationships and largely converged to those of heterosexuals. Chen and van Ours found that the legalisation of same-sex marriage, as well as supportive societal attitudes, significantly improved the mental health of LGBT people. They concluded, "We find a significant improvement in the mental health of sexual minorities following the legislation. We also find that marriage itself was only partially responsible for the amelioration of mental health among sexual minorities. More importantly, the legal recognition of same-sex marriage improved mental health for both male and female sexual minorities irrespective of their own marital status."

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