Twenty years ago, just after the stroke of midnight on April 1, the mayor of Amsterdam married four couples in City Hall as the Netherlands became the first country in the world with legalized same-sex marriages. "There are two reasons to rejoice,″ Mayor Job Cohen told the newlyweds before pink champagne and pink cake were…
Twenty years ago, the mayor of Amsterdam married four couples in City Hall as the Netherlands became the first country with legalized same-sex marriages.
Gay marriage was first legalized in one nation 20 years ago; which countries recognize same-sex couples now?
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Gay marriage was first legalized in one nation 20 years ago; which countries recognize same-sex couples now?
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By David Crary and Mike Corder | The Associated Press
Twenty years ago, just after the stroke of midnight on April 1, the mayor of Amsterdam married four couples in City Hall as the Netherlands became the first country in the world with legalized same-sex marriages.
“There are two reasons to rejoice,” Mayor Job Cohen told the newlyweds before pink champagne and pink cake were served. “You are celebrating your marriage, and you are also celebrating your right to be married.”
The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage 20 years ago.
At midnight on 1 April, 2001, then-mayor Job Cohen married three gay couples and one lesbian couple in a joint ceremony at the City Hall in Amsterdam. Up until that point, same-sex couples could only enter into a registered partnership.
Since that momentous day in 2001, 20,000 same-sex couples in the Netherlands have tired the knot, according to data released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). CBS said more than 19,000 men and nearly 21,000 women have married a same-sex partner since 1 April ,
More than 1,400 men and 1,100 women were married in the first year that same-sex marriages were legalised in the country, meaning they will be celebrating their 20th wedding anniversaries this year.
Netherlands celebrates 20 years of same-sex marriage latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.