Dutch constitution will be amended to ban LGBTQ+ discrimination

“You can rightly call this day historic!”

Dutch lawmakers voted Tuesday to expand Article 1 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to explicitly include bans on discrimination based on sexual orientation and disability.

As NL Times reports, the proposition is the result of a years-long initiative by the coalition party D66 and left-wing opposition parties PvdA and GroenLinks. Following the Dutch Senate’s Tuesday vote, which passed the proposal in a 56­–15 vote, it now only needs to be signed by King Willem-Alexander and the responsible minister before being published in the Staatscourant, the official government publication that formally announces new laws.

Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution already states that citizens of the Netherlands “shall be treated equally in equal circumstances,” and includes protections based on “religion, belief, political opinion, race, or sex.” It also states that discrimination “on any other grounds whatsoever shall not be permitted.”

But Dutch LGBTQ+ advocacy organization COC Nederlands, which has advocated for enshrining LGBTQ+ right in the constitution since 2004, said that…

Read full story, and more, from Source: Dutch constitution will be amended to ban LGBTQ+ discrimination

Share

About Gay Today

Editor of Gay Today