The Scotsman

Germany celebrates same-sex marriages after law is changed

- By FRANK JORDANS

Germany has celebrated its first same-sex weddings after a new law came into force putting gay and lesbian couples on an equal legal footing with heterosexu­al couples.

Town halls in Berlin, Hamburg and elsewhere opened their doors to mark the event, made possible by a surprise vote in Parliament three months earlier.

“We’re making a single exception to fire a symbolic starter pistol because samesex marriages are possible from today,” said Gordon Holland, a registrar in Berlin’s Schoeneber­g district.

Mr Holland said it was appropriat­e for Schoeneber­g to hold the first same-sex wedding in the country because it has long been a centre of gay life in the German capital.

About 60 guests and an equal number of journalist­s packed into Schoeneber­g town hall’s “Golden Room” to witness the marriage of Karl Kreile and his partner of 38 years, Bodo Mende.

The grooms entered the room to the popular Wedding March by 19th-century German composer Felix Mendelssoh­n, before saying their vows and signing the marriage documents to applause and cheers from the assembled guests.

Mr Kreile, 59, said it was an “incredible honour” to be the first same-sex couple to marry in Germany, noting that he and Mr Mende, 60, had been campaignin­g for gay rights for decades.

After cutting the wedding cake – featuring a rainbow flag and the words “marriage for all” – the couple planned to hold a small reception and fly to Vienna later in the week for a five-day honeymoon.

“We had a huge party 15 years ago that can’t be topped,” said Mr Kreile, referring to the celebratio­n after the couple registered their partnershi­p in 2002.

Germany introduced registered partnershi­ps in 2002, but those gave same-sex couples fewer rights than heterosexu­al couples who married.

Chancellor Angela Merkel long opposed same-sex marriages, only agreeing to a free vote in Parliament on the matter in June, shortly before national elections.

The bill, which enjoyed strong public support, passed by a wide margin, with 393 lawmakers voting in favour of marriage equality and 226, including Ms Merkel, voting against.

“This day sends a significan­t signal, which is that the state’s discrimina­tion of lesbians and gays is finished,” said Joerg Steinert, who heads the Berlin branch of Germany’s lesbian and gay associatio­n.

According to official figures there were about 43,000 registered partnershi­ps in Germany in 2015.

 ??  ?? 0 Karl Kreile and Bode Mende cut the rainbow wedding cake
0 Karl Kreile and Bode Mende cut the rainbow wedding cake

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