Germany has witnessed its first ever same-sex marriages, after new legislation came into effect yesterday.
Registry offices across the country broke with tradition by opening their doors on a Sunday in order to allow gay couples to take their vows as soon as the new legislation came into effect.
Karl Kreile, 59, and Bodo Mende, 62, were the first same-sex couple to tie the knot, almost four decades after they first met.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In front of 60 guests and almost as many journalists, Kreile and Mende exchanged their vows in the “Golden Room” of their local town hall, in the Schoeneberg district of Berlin.
The pair, both civil servants, have been together since 1979.
Kreile and Mende are used to blazing a trail - they first tried to obtain a marriage licence in 1992 and were among the wave of first couples to register their union when Germany introduced same-sex civil partnerships in 2002.
“We had a huge party 15 years ago that can’t be topped,” Kreile told AP reporters before the ceremony. However, “the transition to the term ‘marriage’ shows that the German state recognizes us as real equals”.
He added that being the first same-sex couple to wed under equal marriage laws was an “incredible honour”.
Green party politician Anja Kofbinger tweeted a picture of the first female gay couple in Berlin to take advantage of marriage equality, whom she identified as Daniela and Gerlinde.
Another Green party politician was among those exchanging their vows yesterday. Volker Beck, a long-time activist for gay rights, tied the knot with his partner, Adrian Petkov, The New York Times reports.
Aside from the symbolic victory for equality, “getting married will give gay couples the same tax advantages and adoption rights as heterosexual couples”, says the BBC.
Chancellor Angela Merkel surprised many earlier this year when she indicated a softening of her longstanding opposition to gay marriage, saying that she would allow her MPs a free vote on the issue.
Within days, a vote was organised and the German parliament approved same-sex marriage by 393 to 226, despite the chancellor herself and most of her centre-right CDU party voting against the legislation.
Weeks later, Malta followed suit, becoming the 15th European country of 23 nations around the world to introduce equal marriage.
-
Schools: The return of a dreaded fitness testFeature Donald Trump is bringing the Presidential Fitness Test back to classrooms nationwide
-
An insatiable hunger for proteinFeature Americans can't get enough of the macronutrient. But how much do we really need?
-
Health: Will medical science survive RFK Jr.?Feature Robert F. Kennedy Jr. scrapped $500 million in mRNA vaccine research contracts
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across SyriaTHE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weaponsThe Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarrayIn the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
