Karl Kreile and Bodo Mende – two civil servants from Berlin – are set to become the first gay couple to marry in Germany on Sunday after parliament voted in June to allow lesbian and gay couples to marry and adopt children. Same-sex couples in Germany have been able to register civil partnerships since 2001, but it was not until parliament voted for marriage equality earlier this year that full marriage equality was enacted. With that move, various differences between civil partnerships and marriage – principally that same-sex couples were not able to adopt children together – were finally erased. According to 2015 figures, some 94,000 same-sex couples live together in the country, with 43,000 in registered civil partnerships. Kriele, 59, and Bodo, 60, have been at the forefront of campaigning for gay rights in Germany since meeting in 1979 in what was then West Berlin.

Source: Egypt Independent October 01, 2017 04:07 UTC