Ruling: Gays cannot be barred from ballroom dancing in the Netherlands

The Netherlands's national competitive ballroom dancing association (NADB) must admit gay couples into competitions, the country's antidiscrimination board ruled on Friday, according to Agence France-Presse. "Many dancers are homosexual," the board said in a ruling posted on its Web site after two dancers barred by the NADB from competitive events had filed an appeal. "Homosexual and lesbian dancers already take part in competitions at the highest level," it said. Refusing to allow them to dance as gay couples "is a consequence of the dominant heterosexual norm, but this is in no sense an evenhanded norm."