Photos: Celebrating 20 years of legal same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
Twenty years ago, just after the stroke of midnight on April 1, the mayor of Amsterdam married four couples in City Hall as the Netherlands became the first country in the world with legalized same-sex marriages.
Peter Wittebrood-Lemke, from left, Frank Wittebrood, Ton Jansen, Louis Rogmans, Helene Faasen and Anne-Marie Thus cut the wedding cake after exchanging vows at Amsterdam's City Hall early Sunday, April 1, 2001. The pairs were among four couples to get married under a new law which took effect April 1, 2001, the world's first such law allowing same-sex marriages with equal rights. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Gert Kasteel, left, and Dolf Pasker kiss after exchanging vows at Amsterdam's City Hall early Sunday, April 1, 2001. The pair was among four couples to get married under a new law which took effect April 1, 2001, the world's first such law allowing same-sex marriages with equal rights. Same-sex marriage is now legal in 28 countries, including most of Western Europe, as well as in the self-governing island of Taiwan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Demonstrators stand outside Amsterdam's City Hall holding a biblical text from the Old Testament reading "come let us return to the Lord" on April 1, 2001. Twenty years ago, the mayor of Amsterdam married four couples as the Netherlands became the first country in the world with legalized same-sex marriages. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Frank Wittebrood, left, and Peter Wittebrood-Lemke, show their tattooed rings to Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen, right, after exchanging vows at Amsterdam's City Hall early Sunday, April 1, 2001. The pair was among four couples to get married under a new law which took effect April 1 and is the world's first such law allowing same-sex marriages with equal rights. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Helene Faasen, left, and Anne-Marie Thus arrive at Amsterdam's City Hall early Sunday, April 1, 2001. The pair was among four couples to get married under a new law which took effect April 1, the world's first such law allowing same-sex marriages with equal rights. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Belgians Marion Huibrechts, right, and Christel Verswyvelen leave the town hall of Kappelen, north Belgium, Friday, June 6, 2003. The two women became the first gay couple to marry in Belgium on Friday under laws passed earlier this year. Huibrechts and Verswyvelen celebrated 16 years of partnership with official vows at a civil ceremony. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Couple Bathini Dambuza, left, and Lindiwe Radebe, right, show off their engagement rings as they pose for a photograph on Constitution Hill in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006. Dambuza and Radebe, who have been engaged for a year, want to take their relationship to the natural next step and get married after the South African parliament approved new legislation recognizing same-sex marriages. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
Gert Kasteel, left, and Dolf Pasker, right, one of the first four couples who tied the knot when same-sex marriage was legalized in the Netherlands, react during an interview at their home in Weesp, near Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 31, 2021. Twenty years ago, the mayor of Amsterdam married four couples in City Hall as the Netherlands became the first country in the world with legalized same-sex marriage. It's now legal in 28 countries, including most of Western Europe, as well as in the self-governing island of Taiwan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
The Rev. Joshua Cotter, of the Unification Church in Bridgeport, Conn., center, and George Welles, of the Church of Our Savior, in Milton, Mass., right, protest against same-sex marriage and civil unions, Monday, March 29, 2004, at the Statehouse in Boston. The Massachusetts Legislature gave final approval in 2004 to a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage but legalize civil unions; the state Supreme Court subsequently ordered the legalization of same-sex marriage across the state. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole)
Two men kiss each other outside St. Peter's Square at the Vatican during a candle-lit demonstration for gay rights on Dec. 6, 2008. Several countries in Europe – including Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic — provide civil unions for same-sex couples. But even if these arrangements offer many of the protections of marriage, many LGBTQ activists consider them a demeaning second-tier status. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
John Lewis, left, and Stuart Gaffney embrace outside San Francisco's City Hall shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A gay couple kisses outside Argentina's congress during a rally to support a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in Buenos Aires, Wednesday, July 14, 2010. Argentina was the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Members of Catholic groups protest outside Argentina's Congress against a same-sex marriage bill in Buenos Aires, Tuesday, July 13, 2010. Argentina subsequently became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Partners Adrian, left and Shane, arrive to vote at a polling station in Drogheda, Ireland, Friday, May 22, 2015. Same-sex marriage is now legal in 28 countries worldwide, including most of Western Europe, as well as the self-governing island of Taiwan. Legalization came in various ways: through court rulings, legislation and – in the case of Ireland – a resounding endorsement by voters in a 2015 national referendum. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Tori Sisson, left, and Shante Wolfe kiss after saying their marriage vows, in Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 9, 2015. Sisson and Wolfe were the first same-sex couple to file their marriage license. The U.S. Supreme Court declared Friday, June 26, 2015, that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the country, in a culmination of two decades of litigation over marriage, and gay rights generally. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Rodrigo Borda, left, and his partner Sergio Miranda watch a Civil Registry worker take down their information to apply to get married in Montevideo, Uruguay, Monday, Aug. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)
Betty Lynch, left, Carmel, Ind., and Annette Gross of Indianapolis, hug during a press conference in the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda in Indianapolis, Friday, June 26, 2015, after the Supreme Court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the U.S. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
LGBT rights activists Sandra Rojas, left, and Adriana Gonzalez celebrate a Constitutional Court decision to give same-sex couples marriage rights, in front of the Justice Palace in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, April 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Supporters of gay marriage celebrate under the gay flag outside the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Thursday, June 30, 2005. The parliament has legalized same-sex marriage, defying conservatives and clergy who opposed making traditionally Roman Catholic Spain the third nation to take this step. (AP Photo/Jasper Juinen)
Protesters wait at a police skirmish line before being allowed to proceed as hundreds demonstrated against the Mormon Church's support of Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, in the Westwood district of Los Angeles Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008. Prop 8 was overturned in 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Ann Sorrell, 78, left, and Marge Eide, 77, of Ann Arbor, a couple for 43 years, embrace after exchanging vows in Ann Arbor, Mich., following a ruling by the US Supreme Court that struck down bans on same sex marriage nationwide Friday, June 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Lesbian couples Chen Ying-hsuan, right, holds Li Li-chen's hand during a military mass weddings ceremony in Taoyuan city, northern Taiwan, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. Two lesbian couples tied the knot in a historic step for the island. Taiwan is the only place in Asia to have legalized gay marriage, passing legislation in this regard in May 2019. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Same-sex marriage supporters kiss outside the Legislative Yuan Friday, May 17, 2019, in Taipei, Taiwan after the legislature passed a law allowing same-sex marriage in a first for Asia. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
People cheer outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Taiwan on Friday, May 17, 2019, after the passage of a law allowing same-sex marriage - a first for Asia. The vote Friday allows same-sex couples full legal marriage rights, including in areas such as taxes, insurance and child custody. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Twenty years ago on April 1, the mayor of Amsterdam married four couples in City Hall as the Netherlands became the first country in the world with legalized same-sex marriages.