Two White Dresses Walking Down the Aisle - About the Inconveniences of Being Gay in Germany

Two white dresses walking down the aisle

About the inconveniences of being gay in Germany

When it comes to gays almost every German can quote the former mayor of Berlin: "I am gay, and that's a good thing!" An example that homosexuality has made its way into our society. It is an integrated part, since I daresay that almost every German knows someone or is even friends with someone who is gay. But why are there still so many inconveniences when it comes to same-sex weddings? In Germany gay couples can contract at least a "civil union", but still there are differences between this and a "real"-wedding, putting homosexual love on a lower social level.

The discrimination of homosexual couples is vastly widespread in German law. A useful example for that is the treatment of married people in tax issues. While married people enjoy every fiscal advantages of tax class III, gay couples living in a civil union are integrated in tax class I. To give you an example of what that means in reality, here are some calculations: A married couple with one child and a sole earner with the gross income of 40.000 € a year, can keep 35.951 € after tax deductions. The income of a gay couple living in a civil union, but under the same conditions, melts down to 32.387 €, which means a decrease of more than 3500 €, which is about the average monthly income of a medical assistant. The same curiosity acts in inheritance law and matters of pension. Both partners in a civil union are treated as unmarried people. So here we see the inconveniences that gay couples are confronted with by German law. This does not follow the imperative of fair play. And does not the German Basic Law say that everyone should be treated equally?

Opponents of homosexuality argue that marriage is a religious institution and the Bible bans same-sex weddings. But in a modern society marriage is not only a religious but also a social concern. Therefore a couple should get married if they love each other, no matter which religious patterns they do not conform to. Actually a 1995 survey in Denmark (where same-sex marriages are legal) showed that 89% of the clergy admitted that the legalization has positive influences on the society, including a reduction in suicide and a reduction in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Another plus for the high north: in 2007 the Swedish Church joined the Christopher Street Day parade, a festival for all gays and lesbians in the world to show their sexual orientation in public.

In 1993 the General Constitutional Court justified the disadvantages gay couples have to cope with by claiming that the benefits of marriage shall protect couples who want to raise children. But today we can notice a movement in the gay society. In fact more and more gay or lesbian couples raise children. 2003 a German