Gay Marriage Rankles
Conservative Aruba
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, August 20, 2005
ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- When two
women tried to register as a married couple in Aruba last year, people on this
Dutch island threw rocks at them, slashed their car tires and protested against
gay unions outside Parliament.
The hostility eventually led Charlene and Esther Oduber-Lamers to flee the
Caribbean territory, which refused to recognize their marriage even though the
couple legally wed in the Netherlands four years ago.
''I couldn't sleep anymore,'' Charlene, a 33-year-old Aruba native, said in a
phone interview from Holland, where the couple has lived since November.
''I felt like maybe they wanted to kill us.''
The strong emotions ignited by the couple's legal fight seeking to force Aruba's
government to recognize their marriage has underlined a deep cultural rift
between liberal Holland and its conservative former colony.
''If we accept gay marriage, would we next have to accept Holland's marijuana
bars and euthanasia?'' government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg said. ''They
have their culture, we have ours.''
The case was a leading topic of discussion on Aruba until recently, when it was
eclipsed by the search for Natalee Holloway, an Alabama teenager who vanished
May 30 after leaving a bar with three local men on the final night of a high
school graduation trip to the island.
After the Public Registry rejected the Oduber-Lamers' marriage certificate, they
filed a lawsuit charging Aruba's government with discrimination. An island
court ruled their union should be recognized.
The government appealed, and a ruling is expected Tuesday. Authorities vow
to pursue the matter to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands if necessary,
arguing that the idea of gay marriage strikes at the very heart of Aruban life.
Aruba, lying just off the Venezuela's northern coast, was once a Dutch colony
but is now an autonomous republic within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Dutch law requires the kingdom's three parts -- the Netherlands, Aruba and the
Dutch Antilles -- to recognize each other's legal documents, including marriage
certificates. But Aruba's government contends the law also grants the
island self-rule -- and thus it should be permitted to ignore same-sex marriages
from the Netherlands, which legalized such unions in 2001.
''We can't let this become a precedent,'' said Hendrik Croes, a lawyer for
Aruba's government. ''Gay marriage is against the civil code and Aruban
morals.''
Despite strong ties to the Netherlands, which is one of Europe's most liberal
nations in social mores, Aruba is more culturally in tune with Latin America.
While Dutch is the island's official language, most Arubans speak Papiamento, a
mix of Spanish and Portuguese. More than 80 percent of the island's 97,000
people are Roman Catholic, and the largest number of immigrants come from
Venezuela and Colombia.
Few people are openly gay on the island. Locals say many homosexuals move
to the Netherlands rather than face persecution at home.
''Being gay is still taboo in Aruba,'' said Guisette Croes, 41, a lesbian who
owns a music store in the capital, Oranjestad, and is not related to the
government's lawyer. ''You have Dutch law here, but you also have
conservative Latin American people.''
Charlene Oduber-Lamers said she knew winning recognition of her marriage would
not be easy.
Not having their marriage recognized meant Esther, a 38-year-old Dutch citizen,
could not get health benefits from Charlene's job or stay on the island for more
than six months a year under Aruban immigration laws.
It also meant she would not get custody of the couple's 2-year-old daughter
should something happen to Charlene, who gave birth to the child with an
implanted egg from Esther.
After the couple filed their lawsuit, people began to heckle them and make
critical remarks on the street, in the supermarket and at Charlene's job at the
Aruban Department of Social Affairs. Someone threw rocks at them, and
their tires were slashed outside a hotel.
The couple received public support from Dutch gay rights groups and a liberal
political party in the Netherlands, D-66, but local organizations kept a much
lower profile. The main Aruban gay rights group declined to comment,
saying it did not want to draw attention.
Charlene said stress over the case caused her to have anxiety attacks.
''I never imagined the situation would go this far,'' she said. ''It's
been very painful.''
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