Aruban Court says Governmt Must Recognize Dutch Same-sex Marriage

[TaleWgnDg]

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Aruban court says government must recognize Dutch same-sex marriage

Jeannie Shawl at 12:22 PM ET
Wednesday, August 24, 2005

(JURIST legal news) Aruba's Superior Court has ruled that a lesbian couple legally married in the Netherlands has the right to register their marriage in the autonomous Caribbean republic that is part of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_the_Netherlands">Kingdom of the Netherlands (Wikipedia backgrounder) (includings the Netherland, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba) even though same-sex marriage (JURIST news archive) is not authorized under Aruba's civil code. Lawyers for the Aruban government had argued that although same-sex marriage is legal in the Netherlands, Dutch laws that require members of the Kingdom to recognize each other's legal documents do not trump the island's right to self-rule. The court ruled in favor of the couple, saying that "The Dutch marriage can be inscribed in the register. Since Aruba is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it must comply with demands of the Kingdom." The Aruban government has said it will appeal the decision to Holland's Supreme Court. AP has more.

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edited to add: Ooops, the origin website: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/08/aruban-court-says-government-must.php

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[Kipling]

1. Only 3 more months...

... and it will be the same in the British caribbean, I suppose.

[jim3775]

2. The court is too focused on silly matters....

like equal rights and not spending enough time working on the important matters like finding Natalie Holloway. That's what Greta Van Sustren and Nancy Grace told me.

[MGKrebs]

3. Is that irony?

They are going to go to the Dutch Supreme Court to argue that Dutch law doesn't necessarily apply to them?

[Mairead]

4. Akcherly, less ironic than you'd think

They're a protectorate, not a province: they have full internal autonomy.

[MGKrebs]

5. Then why go to the Dutch court?

[Mairead]

6. To catch the Aruban court in a cleft stick, would be my guess

The cloggie court will (or should!) say that Aruba has internal independence and that they have no jurisdiction. Which would force the Aruban court and government to fight it out on real human-rights grounds.