ΟΛΛΑΝΔΙΑ: ΔΕΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΓΑΜΟΣ ΟΜΟΦΥΛΩΝ.

Πέρασαν περίπου 10 χρόνια από τότε που η Ολλανδία έγινε η πρώτη χώρα στον κόσμο που νομοθετήθηκε ο γάμος ομοφύλων, την 1η Απριλίου του 2001. Το Radio Netherlands κάνει έναν πρώτο απολογισμό.

Ten years of same-sex marriage: a mixed blessing
Ten years after the Netherlands became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage, homosexual couples still marry far less often than heterosexual couples, partly because they still face obstacles when they wish to have children.
Just 20 percent of Dutch homosexual couples are married, compared with 80 percent of heterosexual couples, fresh figures by Statistics Netherlands show.
Since 1 April 2001, when the Netherlands became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage, some 15,000 gay and lesbian couples have tied the knot.
That is two percent of all marriages celebrated in Holland, and just 20 percent of the 55,000 same-sex couples the country numbers.
Among the country’s 4.1 million heterosexual couples, 80 percent are married.
Divorce among same-sex couples accounts for one percent of all divorces.
“The figures show that over the past ten years gay and lesbian couples have been behaving the same way as straight couples”, demographer Jan Latten of Statistics Netherlands says.
“Many of them marry out of love, of course. But, just as with straight couples, the desire to have children and the resulting legal responsibilities often weigh even more for gay and lesbian couples to marry.”
“This could explain why gay couples marry less often than straight ones. Gay couples, especially gay men, are still facing considerable difficulties when they want to adopt children.”
The similarities between gay and lesbian couples do not end there. “Some relationships last, other ones end”, Latten says. “But annual divorce percentages are pretty much the same for both groups”.
And both gay and straight couples prefer to tie the knot in the spring or the summer.
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide

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