 to have legal full rights, equal rights, just as everybody else. In 1997, a special commission had concluded that marriage should be extended to same-sex couples. A newspaper poll showed that 62% of Dutch people supported the move. On 12 September 2000, the Dutch parliament voted by a significant margin to legalise gay marriage. A gay newspaper that had campaigned for the law change decided to organise a collective wedding at midnight when the law came into effect.