Holland says stop to homotransphobia.

While in Italy it is still unclear what will be the outcome of the Zan bill, which foresaw aggravating penalties for hate crimes against LGBTQIA+ people, women, and disabled people, in the Netherlands the parliament voted recently on an amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution, inserting a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation and disability.

Article 1 of the Constitution itself, prior to this important change, stated that every citizen – including foreigners – deserves “equal treatment in equal circumstances”, specifying several areas including “religion, belief, political opinion, ethnicity or gender”.

The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of the amendment – 56 votes to 15 – and it will soon be considered by King Willem Alexander, who will decide on the final details, royal sanction and final government approval.

Once approved, the law will be published in the Staatscourant, the Dutch Official Gazette – which, as in Italy, announces the actual and final promulgation of the amendment.

A really important step towards the rights of the Dutch LGBTQIA+ community, defined as a “historic victory for LGBTQIA+ people” by the oldest and longest-lasting LGBTQIA+ movement, founded in 1946: the group COC Nederland, whose spokesperson explained that the process was long and complicated, not because of a lack of political will, but because of the different steps an amendment has to go through before being approved.

Well done, Holland!