GERMANY: GERMAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS OPPOSITION COMPLAINTS AND RULES IN FAVOUR OF NEW LAW ALLOWING SAME-SEX MARRIAGES

Record ID: 647587

  • Title: GERMANY: GERMAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS OPPOSITION COMPLAINTS AND RULES IN FAVOUR OF NEW LAW ALLOWING SAME-SEX MARRIAGES
  • Date: 17th July 2002
  • Summary: (W5) KARLSRUHE, GERMANY (JULY 17, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. WS: JUDGES ENTERING COURTROOM 0.21 2. SV: AUDIENCE LISTENING 0.32 3. WIDE OF COURTROOM; PAN TO JUDGES 0.44 4. WS: JUDGES RISING AND PUTTING ON HATS 0.59 5. CU: JUDGE HANS-JUERGEN PAPIER, PRESIDENT OF GERMAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT, READING VERDICT 1.10 6. CU: VOLKER BECK, OPENLY GAY GREEN PARTY MEMBER IN GERMAN PARLIAMENT AND MARRIED TO A MAN, DRINKING WATER 1.18 7. CU: FEMALE JUDGES LISTENING; PAN TO PAPIER SPEAKING 1.32 8. WS: COURTROOM 1.37 9. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (German) MANFRED WEISS, BAVARIAN STATE MINISTER SAYING "The senate has reached a clear verdict which means that the law allows for a lot of leeway. We will have to accept that." 1.57 10. WIDE OF WEISS BEING INTERVIEWED 1.57 11. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (German) VOLKER BECK, OPENLY GAY GREEN PARTY MEMBER IN GERMAN PARLIAMENT SAYING "I am extremely relieved. We have scored a victory with the German Constitutional Court which ruled that the partnership law is legal. (Candidate for chancellor and Bavarain premier Edmund) Stoiber has proven to be a bad legal expert and (Free Democrats party head Guido) Westerwelle a bad prophet. Both predicted we would lose. The partnership law is legal. So now politicians are asked to continue working towards an equality for lesbians and gays. This is a fantastic day for gays and lesbians: finally, after more than fifty years gays and lesbians have the same rights and duties and the supreme court has given its blessing. We can now say that we can make use of our rights based on this verdict. In the past we have had other court decisions." 3.02 12. BACK SHOT: BECK BEING INTERVIEWED 3.07 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 1st August 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KARLSRUHE, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA8JLSYBVG2Z7MGO01A3S9CM6F7
  • Story Text: Germany's gays and lesbians have scored a victory over
    the country's opposition conservatives as the highest court
    ruled in favour of a new law allowing same-sex marriages.


    The German Constitutional Court on Wednesday (July 17, 2002)
    rejected a complaint by conservative-ruled states which argued
    that recognising gay marriages upset family values enshrined
    in the constitution.

    The law, championed by the environmentalist Green party
    and approved by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social
    Democrats with whom they govern, came into force last August.

    "The senate has reached a clear verdict which means that
    the law allows for a lot of leeway. We will have to accept
    that," said Manfred Weiss, Bavarian State Minister.

    The conservatives seek to project themselves as guardians
    of the traditional family ahead of a September election. They
    are ahead in opinion polls, largely because of high
    unemployment.

    "I am extremely relieved. We have scored a victory with
    the German Constitutional Court which ruled that the
    partnership law is legal," said Green party member in the
    German parliament, Volker Beck, who is openly gay and married
    to a man.

    Anti-gay measures passed in 1935 formed part of a Nazi
    philosophy that deemed homosexuals alien to the state's aim to
    create a super-race.

    Those gays found guilty faced years in prison or
    concentration camps, where thousands died. Other gay men were
    forcibly sterilised or subjected to medical experiments. The
    legislation remained unchanged on Germanys statute books until
    1969.

    Today, homosexuality is broadly accepted in Germany and
    many cities have openly gay districts and hold gay parades.

    Voters are largely indifferent about their politicians
    personal lives, whether gay or straight. Schroeder and Foreign
    Minister Joschka Fischer have each been married four times.

    There have been an estimated 4,500 gay marriages since the
    law came into force. Some five percent of adults over 20 in
    Germany are believed to be gay.

    Under the new law, lesbians and gays who register their
    relationships have the same inheritance rights as
    heterosexuals, may share a common surname, and their foreign
    partners will be allowed to join them in Germany.

    But the law does not accord lesbian and gay couples the
    tax advantages granted to heterosexual married pairs, or the
    right to adopt children. The relationships are not officially
    called marriages but registered life partnerships.
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