Opening Civil Marriage to Same-Gender Couples: A Netherlands-United States Comparison Nancy G. Maxwell Readers are reminded that this work is protected by copyright. While they are free to use the ideas expressed in it, they may not copy, distribute or publish the work or part of it, in any form, printed, electronic or othenwise, except for reasonable quoting, clearly indicating the source. Readers are permitted to make copies, electronically or printed, for personal and classroom use Abstract This article examines and compares the legal developments in the Netherlands and the United States concerning the right of same-gender couples to marry. These two countries were selected for this comparison because the Netherlands and some states in the United States appear to be on the verge of opening civil marriage to same-gender couples. However, the routes that each country is taking to this same destination have come from completely different directions. For example, in both countries same-gender couples have filed lawsuits seeking to marry. In the 1990s, five different cases were filed in the U.S., and the jud ges in at least three of these cases have been receptive to the petitioners= attempts to obtain marital rights. In the states of Hawaii and Alaska, lower court judges have held that the denial of marriage licenses to same-gender couples is unlawful discrimination in violation of state constitutional provisions; in the state of Vermont, the highest appellate court has ruled that the Vermont Constitution requires same-gender couples be granted the equivalent rights as married opposite-gender couples. Court challenges to the marriage laws in the Netherland however, have been unsuccessful and the dutch judges have been unwilling to find that -gender couples have a right to marry On the other hand, in July of 1999, the Dutch government introduced a bill in the Parliament that would allow same-gender Dutch couples to marry one another in civil ceremonies. Ironically, just the opposite legislative activity is occurring in many of the U.s states. In fact, in Hawaii and Alaska the state legislators and citizens recently passed constitutional amendments to limit marriage to opposite-gender couples, to prevent the court decisions in those states from taking effect This article discusses and compares the contrasting legal developments in the United States and the Netherlands concerning the right of same-gender couples to marry. It does so by discussing the case law and the current legislative activity, first in the Netherlands and then in the United States, dealing with the right of same-gender couples to marry. The next section analyzes and compares the dutch and United States legal histories concerning opening civil marriage to same-gender couples. This section examines how the differences in Professor of Law, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, USA. The author wishes to thank Washbum University School of Law for funding the research of this article through an academic sabbatical; the Molengraaff Institute of Private Law and its faculty sponsor, Ineke de Hondt, Associate Professor of Private Law, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, for welcom ing the author as a visiting scholar, Kees Waaldijk, Lecturer in Law, Leiden University, The Netherlands, for his thoughtful discussions during the research of this article, Caroline Forder, Professor in Private Law, Maastricht University, The Netherlands, for her insightful comments on earlier drafts, and william Petulla, Washburn Law School, Class of 2001 and Gerrit Diederick Maassen, the Molengraaff Institute of Private Law, Class of 2000, for their able research assistanceOpening Civil Marriage to Same-Gender Couples: A Netherlands-United States Comparison Nancy G. Maxwell1 Readers are reminded that this work is protected by copyright. While they are free to use the ideas expressed in it, they may not copy, distribute or publish the work or part of it, in any form, printed, electronic or otherwise, except for reasonable quoting, clearly indicating the source. Readers are permitted to make copies, electronically or printed, for personal and classroom use. Abstract This article examines and compares the legal developments in the Netherlands and the United States concerning the right of same-gender couples to marry. These two countries were selected for this comparison because the Netherlands and some states in the United States appear to be on the verge of opening civil marriage to same-gender couples. However, the routes that each country is taking to this same destination have come from completely different directions. For example, in both countries same-gender couples have filed lawsuits seeking to marry. In the 1990s, five different cases were filed in the U.S., and the judges in at least three of these cases have been receptive to the petitioners= attempts to obtain marital rights. In the states of Hawaii and Alaska, lower court judges have held that the denial of marriage licenses to same-gender couples is unlawful discrimination in violation of state constitutional provisions; in the state of Vermont, the highest appellate court has ruled that the Vermont Constitution requires same-gender couples be granted the equivalent rights as married opposite-gender couples. Court challenges to the marriage laws in the Netherlands, however, have been unsuccessful and the Dutch judges have been unwilling to find that same-gender couples have a right to marry. On the other hand, in July of 1999, the Dutch government introduced a bill in the Parliament that would allow same-gender Dutch couples to marry one another in civil ceremonies. Ironically, just the opposite legislative activity is occurring in many of the U.S. states. In fact, in Hawaii and Alaska the state legislators and citizens recently passed constitutional amendments to limit marriage to opposite-gender couples, to prevent the court decisions in those states from taking effect. 1 Professor of Law, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, USA. The author wishes to thank Washburn University School of Law for funding the research of this article through an academic sabbatical; the Molengraaff Institute of Private Law and its faculty sponsor, Ineke de Hondt, Associate Professor of Private Law, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, for welcoming the author as a visiting scholar; Ke es Waaldijk, Lecturer in Law, Leiden University, The Netherlands, for his thoughtful discussions during the research of this article; Caroline Forder, Professor in Private Law, Maastricht University, The Netherlands, for her insightful comments on earlier drafts, and William Petulla, Washburn Law School, Class of 2001 and Gerrit Diederick Maassen, the Molengraaff Institute of Private Law, Class of 2000, for their able research assistance. This article discusses and compares the contrasting legal developments in the United States and the Netherlands concerning the right of same-gender couples to marry. It does so by discussing the case law and the current legislative activity, first in the Netherlands and then in the United States, dealing with the right of same-gender couples to marry. The next section analyzes and compares the Dutch and United States legal histories concerning opening civil marriage to same-gender couples. This section examines how the differences in