GERMAN GAY marriage law backed
German gay marriage law backed
July 17, 2002 Posted: 3:46 PM EDT (1946 GMT)
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BERLIN, Germany -- A challenge to Germany's gay marriage law has been thrown out by the country's highest court.
The judges rejected a complaint that gay marriages violate constitutional provisions protecting marriage and the family.
Judges at the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe voted 5-3 to back the law, which was challenged by Bavaria and two other states.
"I'm enormously relieved," said Volker Beck, a lawmaker from the Greens party, which led the drive for the legislation.
"This is a gigantic day for gays and lesbians in Germany."
The legislation, which came into effect in August 2001 and was approved by parliament in November 2001, entitles homosexual couples to the same inheritance and insurance privileges as heterosexual couples.
They can also exchange vows at government offices and choose a common surname.
But they do not have the right to tax privileges afforded to heterosexual couples, nor do they have the right to adopt children.
An estimated 4,400 couples have tied the knot under the legislation, about 1 percent of the number of heterosexual marriages sealed annually.
When the challenge was first raised last year, the conservative Christian Social Union, which rules Bavaria, said the legislation marked a "black day for families."
Bavaria is governed by Edmund Stoiber, the conservative challenger to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the September parliamentary elections.
Stoiber said he regretted the decision, but said he would not seek to overturn it if the conservatives win the upcoming election.
Denmark was the first country to grant rights to gay couples in 1989.
Since then France, Sweden, Iceland, Norway and The Netherlands are among countries to have legalised same-sex marriages.
Well i guess the germans gay people has more freedom then the Americans
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2004/10/29/germany_expands_same_sex_couples_rights?mode=PF
Germany expands same-sex couples' rights
By Tony Czuczka, Associated Press Writer | October 29, 2004
BERLIN --German lawmakers expanded the rights of same-sex couples Friday, allowing registered domestic partners to adopt each other's children and making rules on splitting up and alimony similar to those for heterosexual marriages.
Parliament's lower house passed the changes drafted by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's center-left government over the objections of opposition conservatives.
"This is a good day for gays and lesbians," Green Party lawmaker Volker Beck told his colleagues. "We are making another step on the long road to equal rights."
The new law stops short of giving homosexuals, who are legally recognized as couples under Germany's domestic partnership law, full rights to adopt children. But if one partner has children or brings them into the partnership, the other partner can now legally adopt them if neither parent objects.
Before registering their partnership, gay couples will be able to get engaged as heterosexuals do, a step granting certain legal rights in Germany, such as the right not to testify against one's partner in court.
Laws on separation, divorce, alimony and division of assets also are being extended to gay couples.
Although Germany does not permit gay marriage, about 5,000 gay couples have registered domestic partnerships under a law supported by Schroeder's government that took effect Aug. 1, 2001.
Many in Germany's main opposition Christian Democratic bloc remain bitterly opposed to granting gay couples the same rights as married heterosexuals.
The opposition's main reason for voting against the changes was a fear that they opened the door to giving gay couples full adoption rights, Christian Democratic lawmaker Daniela Raab said Friday.
The new adoption law "is an ideological aberration and shows a completely wrong understanding of values," said Christean Wagner, the justice minister of conservative-ruled Hesse state.
He argued it goes against the spirit of Germany's 1949 constitution, whose aim he said was to promote marriage and children.
Beck, a prominent gay activist, argued that greater rights for homosexuals were in line with constitutional equal rights guarantees.
"Western civilization has not collapsed," he said. "It's simply that gays and lesbians now have more rights in this society."
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