“I was surprised to hear parliamentarians Do Nascimento and Berlis speak about their arguments for not approving the same-sex marriage law this morning. We stand in favor of the law, and my argument is a very simple one.” These were the words of Leonardo Figaroa, who appeared on the Accion21 list during the last election and is currently the founder of the Political Direction Party (PDP).
He believes that we simply need to consider the relationship between a citizen’s rights and duties. The important question to ask is why the parliamentarians against the same-sex marriage law don’t want the law to come into effect, but the community still has to pay taxes. Taxes that are paid to cover pension AOV/AWW, isn’t this discrimination?
They talk about the “traditional family”, but let’s be honest, how many parents are really raising their children as they should in traditional families? Many times in these supposedly traditional families, “we see alcohol and drug abuse, relational abuse, and much more. It’s important to be honest about these facts.”
“My reaction to Evelyn Wever Croes’ argument regarding cassation is very simple. It’s difficult for her to convince the MEP community, which is very conservative, to support such a law. This is the same Prime Minister who stood in the KVK and Millennial debate and told the people of Aruba that she stands for inclusion. The inclusion we have today under her leadership as Prime Minister is that she decided to go into cassation.
Separation of Church and State
The separation of powers was introduced by the French revolution, which was the inspiration. Why? Simply put, it’s important to have this separation. This is to guarantee representation for every group in the community and also to ensure that even though the minority does not have a voice, they still have rights. It’s important to remove the argument of Christianity from the political debate.
This has nothing to do with a group of progressive politicians pushing an LGBTQIA+ agenda, but the issue is about a fact that violates Article 1 of the Constitution. There’s not much to discuss; it’s violating the law and goes against the prohibition of discrimination that the Constitution gives to every citizen.
PDP believes in dialogue; it’s important to sit down with the church leaders to explain to them about constitutional rights, not only Article 1, which talks about the prohibition of discrimination but also Article I.15 paragraph 1, the right to be free to choose their religion and belief. “We are a progressive social-liberal party, which means we are FOR the LGBTQIA+ marriage law. We believe it’s important to introduce this law and in this way, end the discrimination that currently exists, let this become a thing of the past.”
