The role of religion and sexuality in debates about same-sex wedding ceremonies in the Netherlands

What is it about?

When civil marriage in the Netherlands was opened up to same-sex couples in 2001, the Dutch government allowed civil marriage registrars with conscientious objections to opt out. This exemption became controversial in 2007, when it was reemphasized by a new government coalition that comprised two faith-based parties. Through critical discourse analysis this article discusses the construction of religion and homosexuality in public discourses on the "weigerambtenaar" (lit. “refusing civil servant”) between 2007 and 2014. It looks at the effects of the "weigerambtenaar" as a term, a character and a social problem, and shows how particular oppositions between homosexuals and Christians were created of reinforced. Moreover, it argues that, although the issue was framed in terms of certain secular rights, some contributions also pointed to the importance of (quasi)religious rites in the civil wedding ceremony. Therefore, it also shows how marriage was conceptualized in terms of religion and (homo)sexuality.

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Why is it important?

This is the first academic publication on the heavily debated phenomenon of (allegedly Christian) opposition to performing same-sex wedding ceremonies in the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. By looking at rites instead of rights, it reveals multiple viz. different functions of "religion" in the debates about this phenomenon and in Dutch society more generally.