Caribbean - St. Maarten

Under Article 255 of the penal code, homosexual acts are legal between adult males, and the age of consent is set at 16. The attitude of the general public towards homosexuality, however, is somewhat less tolerant than that of the Dutch mother country. Same-sexual marriages are recognized as a part of the Netherlands, however, cannot be entered into in the Antilles. Dutch law requires the kingdom's three parts - the Netherlands, Aruba and the Dutch Antilles - to recognize each other's legal documents, including marriage certificates. Recently a court in the Antilles capital of Willenstad upheld the requirement that the government must recognized marriages performed in the Netherlands. The Antilles government's appeal to The Hague is unlikely to succeed, legal observers say, pointing to the failure of a similar case in 2005 that had been brought by the government of Aruba.