Caribbean: Same-sex marriage likely in Sint-Maarten, Aruba, Curaçao
Judges sitting in The Hague clear the way for more Caribbean marriage equality
As 2024 begins, same-sex marriage is heading toward legal status in the Netherlands Antilles nations of Sint-Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba, which are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Same-sex marriage is already in effect in Bonaire, Sint-Eustatius and Saba, three islands with municipal status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Below, Netherlands Antilles LGBT+ rights activist Mario Kleinmoedig discusses the situation:
Mario Kleinmoedig: Many LGBT+ nationals from the islands of Aruba and Curaçao go and get married in Saba or Bonaire to feel like they have rights that are automatically denied to them as soon as they set foot back home. It’s a disgrace, because we have the same passport and the same nationality as other people from the Netherlands Antilles. In Sint-Maarten, the situation is even more absurd, because on the same island on the French side, people can get married.
Specifically, when it comes to inheritance, same-sex couples have to pay a tax of 36% of the total value of the property they wish to inherit, as they are considered to be single. For heterosexual couples whose marriage is recognized, this rate is only 6%. That’s a sixfold increase.
Attempts have been made to avoid broaching the subject of marriage between same-sex couples, particularly in Curaçao, with proposals to grant couples in long-term relationships a tax rate equivalent to that of married heterosexual couples, but LGBT+ activists don’t want that. We’re just asking for dignity and equal rights.
Erasing 76 Crimes: What are the implications of the recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, based in The Hague?
Mario Kleinmoedig: A lesbian couple had argued that it was unconstitutional not to recognize marriages between same-sex couples contracted in Saba, within the jurisdiction of Curaçao, in violation of the principle of non-discrimination enshrined in the constitution of Curaçao and the Kingdom of the Netherlands more generally.
After winning the lesbian couple’s case on December 6 in a ruling by the Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles, Curaçao’s conservative Christian government under the leadership of Gilmar Pisas immediately lodged an appeal.
The Dutch Supreme Court of Justice — the country’s highest judicial authority — acted swiftly on this appeal — 15 days later, the judges sitting in The Hague upheld the ruling of the Willemstad Court of Justice.
Today, the opening of marriage to same-sex couples in Sint-Maarten, Aruba and Curaçao is only a matter of weeks away , and should coincide with Pride Month between late May and mid-June 2024.
