Posted: April 14, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET 

(The Hague) The Netherlands Supreme Court has ordered the island of Aruba to recognize same-sex marriages registered in the Netherlands, or other areas where they are legal.

The semi-autonomous island in the Antilles is part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands.  It has been in a legal battle with Dutch authorities for the past three years over gay marriage, after a lesbian couple on the island tried to register their marriage.

Charlene and Esther Oduber-Lamers were legally wed in the Netherlands in 2001.

When the two women tried to register as a married couple in 2004 people on the island threw rocks at them, slashed their car tires and protested against gay unions outside the local Parliament.

The abuse was so bad the women ended up fleeing the island.

"If we accept gay marriage, would we next have to accept Holland's marijuana bars and euthanasia?" government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg said in 2005. "They have their culture, we have ours."

After the Public Registry rejected the Oduber-Lamers' marriage certificate, the Oduber-Lamers returned to The Netherlands where they filed a lawsuit charging Aruba's government with discrimination. 

The case began on the island where a court ruled their union should be recognized.

The government appealed to the Supreme Court at The Hague.

The court ruled Friday that  a marriage certificate signed by an official of the Netherlands, carried the "same force of law" in Aruba.

"The couple can insist that they be registered as married in the municipal registry," the court added.

The Netherlands became the first country in the world to allow same-sex marriage in 2001.

Legal experts say the ruling extends to all other parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, including Curacao, Bonaire, Saba and Saint Martin.

©365Gay.com 2007