On Tuesday, June 30, the House of Representatives voted in great majority for a bill by D66, GroenLinks and PvdA to anchor LGBTI rights in Article 1 of the Constitution. The COC, which has been advocating the amendment of the law for almost twenty years, is happy with the outcome.
"This is wonderful news," responds COC chairman Astrid Oosenbrug. “Today we are taking a big step towards anchoring our rights in the Constitution. That is important for today, as a task for politicians to tackle violence against LGBTI people, for example. And it is important for the future, as a guarantee that we can still enjoy our hard-won rights in fifty or a hundred years. ”
On Tuesday, VVD, CDA, D66, GroenLinks, SP, PvdA, ChristenUnie, Party for the Animals, 50PLUS, DENK and Groep Krol / Van Kooten-Arissen voted in favor of the bill. PVV, SGP, Forum for Democracy and the member Van Haga voted against. In total, 124 MPs voted in favor and 26 voted against the proposal.
The COC is very grateful to the petitioners - Vera Bergkamp (D66), Nevin Özütok (GroenLinks) and Kirsten van den Hul (PvdA) ( see photo above ) - for their bill. The proposal adds "sexual orientation" and "disability" to the prohibited grounds of discrimination already mentioned in Article 1: religion, belief, political affiliation, race and gender.
The COC asked the petitioners to clarify that the Constitution also prohibits discrimination against transgender and intersex people. This was confirmed by the petitioners and Minister Kajsa Ollongren (BZK) present at the debate, at the insistence of GroenLinks, PvdA and Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen. The forbidden discrimination ground 'gender', which is mentioned in Article 1, also protects against discrimination on grounds of gender characteristics, gender identity and gender expression.
The COC has been advocating for almost 20 years anchoring LGBTI rights in the Constitution. This happened during the Canal Parade of Pride Amsterdam 2019, with an open letter in Trouw newspaper , banners along the canals, a boat in the parade and the opening of the NOS Journaal. Anchoring LGBTI rights in Article 1 of the Constitution is part of the Rainbow Ballot Box Agreement that the COC concluded with political parties in the House of Representatives in 2017. Read more via COC