We are allowed to get married! - But why actually?
For many gays today it is almost taken for granted. And possibly in a few decades there will be far less thought about the fact that same-sex marriage was quite hard fought for "at some point".
However, this makes it all the more exciting to look at the various caesuras on the road to "gay marriage". The following milestones show that many people have achieved a great deal here.
Being gay in the Nazi era: when love for a man is punishable by law
The Nazis criminalized homosexuality. Many gay men were taken to concentration camps and killed or severely mistreated there. After World War II, comparatively little was said about homosexuals during the Nazi era. In the 1950s, it was said that the ban on male homosexuality was compatible with the Basic Law.
The 1980s as the first turning point?!
For a long period of time, the cloak of silence was thus placed over gay men. In the 1980s, however, more and more voices were raised demanding more rights and more tolerance. Even then, many demanded the possibility of being allowed to marry as a gay couple. Denmark was one of the pioneers here.
Here, it was already permitted to at least register one's civil partnership by the end of the 1980s.
The LPartG is passed
It took another very long time - until 2001 to be precise - until the LPartG, the Civil Partnership Act, was passed in Germany.
Here it was stated that people who were in a same-sex partnership could, for example, register the respective civil partnership. However, the classic marriage was still a long way off here. In addition, the people concerned could not benefit from tax advantages and the like if they had decided to "partner up".
Nor was there any thought in this model of the possibility of, for example, adopting a child together at some point or deciding on the funeral of the other as the surviving partner.
In other words, the possibility to partner was an important step, but showed a lot of need for improvement in detail.
The breakthrough: the opening of marriage for all
The discrimination of same-sex couples was discussed again and again. Naturally, the topic also played a far-reaching role in politics. Finally, the Bundestag also dealt with the opening of marriage. On 30.06.2017, the time had finally come: people discussed, deliberated and debated. In the end, 393 voted for "yes", 226 for "no". Four members of parliament abstained.
Among other things, it was thanks to the votes of the Greens, the SPD and the Left that the opening of marriage was waved through in this form (and then comparatively quickly in the final meters).
"What's the point of you guys getting married anyway?"
... this is a question that many queers have certainly been confronted with. But why actually? Why do gays, lesbians and bi's have to explain themselves here, where certainly no one would get the idea to ask a straight couple exactly the same question?
It is clear that the opening of marriage for all was not just about putting a ring on the partner's finger. It was about more! Namely, it was about the message to "draw level" with heterosexual couples and to enjoy the same advantages and opportunities.
While "partnering" may have seemed like a one-sided and incomplete compromise to many, marriage for all sent a special message. Whether on taxes, adoption, or other issues: Marriage is marriage. At least on paper. And if such legislation can still ensure that there is more tolerance in people's minds as well, perhaps that has been achieved which many people would not have dared to dream about 80 years ago.
I have no problem at all with men getting married.