Passage: As early as the mid-1980s, a group of gay rights activists, headed by Henk Krol – then editor-in-chief of the Gay Krant – asked the Government to allow same-sex couples to marry. Parliament decided in 1995 to create a special commission, which was to investigate the possibility of same-sex marriages. At that moment, the Christian Democrats (Christian Democratic Appeal) were not part of the ruling coalition for the first time since the introduction of full democracy. The special commission finished its work in 1997 and concluded that civil marriage should be extended to include same-sex couples. After the election of 1998, the Government promised to tackle the issue. In September 2000, the final legislation draft was debated in the Dutch Parliament.

Question: What year did the Dutch special commission conclude that same-sex couples should be included in civil unions?
1997