St. Eustatius – Commissioner of Culture Clyde van Putten has said that there is no way the Government of St. Eustatius will implement the law allowing people of the same sex to get married. He put that position forward in a recent meeting with the
Dutch Minister of Social Affairs Henk Kamp in the Netherlands.
Kamp has said the Dutch government will create an emancipation program to assist with implementation. In reply van Putten told the minister the government will not implement the law “under any condition.”
“We intend to take the high road where it pertains to the law on same sex marriage and will maintain our rights to freedom since our community are not ready to deal with this. This law is against our culture. If some people want to do their thing I will not police people’s private life, since they are free to do what they want. To force government to implement this by registering same sex marriage and the likes, will not go down well with this government. Under no condition will this government give any cooperation for this type of behavior,” van Putten said.
The Culture Commissioner added that while he respects the rule of law, he’d like consideration for the cultural differences between the Netherlands and St. Eustatius. He even cited the fact that the Netherlands took “some time to accept it.”
Van Putten has also said the Netherlands is being unfair by pressing matters like same sex marriage while “shying away from other social issues.”
“There are a number of social laws such as the pension, where the people should be getting better remuneration. Even in education and health care we are not getting the same standard as a citizen or a resident in the Netherlands since it is perceived by the Dutch that these benefits are different. When they are confronted with the benefits for the people that were mentioned, they shy away from it but they want us to accept euthanasia, abortion and other immoral laws. We have voiced our opinion very strongly that we will not defend that law, execute it or respect the implementation of the law,” Van Putten said.
Source – Today
