Let's Not Go Dutch

David Orgon Coolidge

It was a historic moment, to be sure, and carefully stage-managed for public consumption. Sunday, April 1, was the day that same-sex marriages were to become legal in the Netherlands. The occasion had to be done up right. Henk Krol, editor of Gay Krant, Amsterdam's gay newspaper, and the gay rights group COC placed an ad in the paper seeking couples to be the first to marry, with the whole world watching.

Sure enough, four model couples were found: six gay men and two lesbians, including a nurse and a publisher, a social worker and a notary with a baby. According to the Washington Post, each of the couples agreed to "a pre-marriage news conference with city officials and a party afterward at an Amsterdam gay disco.

Read the complete article at the Ethics and Public Policy Center website.