Congratulations to Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who married his partner Michael Mronz in a civil partnership in his hometown of Bonn. Not that marriage means Michael is gonna be joining Guido on all their foreign trips. And the news isn’t at all marred by the growing scandal of France kicking out the Roma and reports that Germany was going to do the same.
daftpunkydavid
they got “civil partenered”. gay germans are still considered second-class citizens by guido westerwelle and angela maerkel’s government. sad but true.
Scot
That guy is so pretty he could be a Kennedy!
tarxien
@DAFTPUNKYDAVID
A Civil Partnership in Europe is identical to civil marriage. It is only missing the religious aspect. Many non-religious heterosexual couples feel discriminated against because they cannot have a Civil Partnership and there are campaigns in some countries to have Civil Partnership extended to heterosexuals.
Civil Partnership is not the same as the US ‘Civil Unions’ which are of course do not carry the same rights as marriage.
Xak
@daftpunkydavid: Actually, they got “Life Partnered”, just as I did with my German partner. The term in German is “Lebenspartnerschaft” or Life Partnership, which entitles us to all rights of marriage except for a tax break. Not exactly second class citizenship, but definitely not at the same level as a marriage between a man and a woman.
Steve
@tarxien: It varies widely from country to country
In the UK or Denmark, it’s almost identical to marriage. In Germany, there are some huge differences. Mostly in tax law. But lesbian couples don’t have official access to artificial insemination treatments for example, precisely because they aren’t married according to law.
Which is why it’s a bit silly that the media treats this as “marriage”. It’s not.
Jen
From another article:
“The outspoken vice chancellor and foreign minister is one of several openly gay politicians in Germany, which include Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, of the opposition liberal Social Democrats, and former Hamburg mayor Ole von Beust, of Merkel’s Christian Democrats.”
menlo
Fuck the politics: he snared a smokin piece of man meat. Congratulations.
Enron
I wonder who is the top and bottom? Possibly versatile?
CT
Civil partnerships in countries like Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria are clearly inferior to marriage. In fact there is a number of cases where couples from these countries went to court because authorities refused to treat them the same as married couples in terms of taxation and social security.
And of course they remain excluded from the right to joint adoption and any access to medically assisted procreation.
Zokotroko
@daftpunkydavid: I wonder how many gay and lesbian Americans can say that they are treated like first-class citizens by the federal goeverment or by the states
daftpunkydavid
@ tarxien. @ xak, @zokotroko:
unless you’re in the netherlands, belgium, spain, sweden, norway, portugal or iceland, you can’t have a marriage to your same sex fiancé(e) in europe; all the euphemisms that exist from the uk to germany to finland to france bolster, rather than contradict my point: second-class citizenship. don’t even get me started on italy or poland.
in the usa, it’s not better, but i don’t know why that should preclude me from criticizing what’s going on in europe.
Xak
@daftpunkydavid: Then perhaps you missed the part where I mentioned that I *am* in Germany and *have* what is called a Lebenspartnerschaft (Life Partnership). True, I wish that I had the same tax break that married couples get, but when I was unemployed I got unemployment benefits from the government, even though I had never worked in Germany before (benefits that I received because of my Lebenspartnerschaft). My partner and I share health insurance. As an American, our Lebenspartnerschaft has given me a permanent residency permit for Germany plus puts me on the same playing field as other Germans when I seek work. We also can’t adopt, but for us that was never an option.
So as someone actually living in Europe, Germany specifically, I definitely disagree with your “second class citizen” assessment. And as you have already pointed out Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Iceland, Belgium, Norway and Sweden all recognize same-sex marriage and that’s a significant portion of Europe. I also firmly believe that The UK, France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Finland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg and Slovenia will get there as well, and probably before the US does.
As for Italy, if Argentina, Spain, Portugal and Mexico City can recognize same-sex marriage, I’m sure that Italy will eventually as well. As for Poland, well, it’s Poland. 😉
daftpunkydavid
@ xak: if it’s given another name, be it “lebenspartnershaft” or “pacte civil de solidarité”, it’s because it’s not the same thing. it may have the same rights and duties that you’d have in hetero-only marriage, but the fact that it’s given an other name means that those who partake in it are seen as different, and therein lies the crux of the debate, dear. because if you’re saying you’re not a second-class citizen, then please explain to me why you are given another status under the law, just because you’re gay and want the government to sanction your relationship with someone of the same gender as you. whether you live in germany is irrelevant to the argument, imho.
daftpunkydavid
*lebenspartnersChaft. sorry; as a german minor in college, i actually am sorry i misspelled the word.
Does no 1 get Politikz? (John from England)
@daftpunkydavid:
baby steps daft! it aint all THAT bad!
KeLeMi
Countries that go bananas over gays: Cuba, China, Egypt, Greece, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, Venezuela, and the USA.
See a pattern?
Imagine agreeing with the likes of North Korea on something.