Queen opens two-day gay rights conference

(16 May 2013) 1. Dutch Queen Maxima gets out of car and enters building, waving to photographers 2. Poster for International Day Against Homophobia sign reading: "IDAHO2013" 3. Queen Maxima enters dinner party, greets some fellow guests and sits down 4. Tilt down from ceiling of Hall of Knights to wide of dinner party 5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jet Bussemaker, Dutch Minister of Emancipation "Even though we are one of the leaders in Europe, The Netherlands is today still in place six when it comes to the legal equality of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people, behind United Kingdom, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Portugal who share the fourth position, and France." 6. Queen Maxima accepts a framed rainbow-coloured map depicting gay rights across Europe STORYLINE: The new Dutch Queen Maxima made one of her first public appearances at a dinner to mark the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) in The Hague on Thursday. May 17 became the International Day Against Homophobia because on the same date in 1991 the World Health Organisation (WHO) decided to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. IDAHO is holding a two-day conference in the Netherlands which is due to end on Friday. Queen Maxima is the wife of the new Dutch monarch, King Willem-Alexander, whose coronation took place on April 30. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...