Nothing says partying in Germany quite like Oktoberfest. But this year, there’s a decidedly queer flavor to the traditionally apolitical event: Gay visibility at the week-long festival is increasing and so is the issue of same-sex marriage.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, “Oktoberfest celebrations like “Gay Sunday” – one of several events dedicated to gays and lesbians that now draw thousands of revelers – politics has inevitably seeped into the mix.”
The issue of same-sex marriage in Germany, while not nearly as heated as it is here in the United States, still draws a political debate: The liberal Free Democratic Party, which has many gay members, has given its full support to same-sex marriage. But the more socially conservative Christian Democratic Union has not. Chancellor Angela Merkel, part of the CDU, has offered only lukewarm support.
But if it seems strange that Germany remains a holdout among the European Union’s larger members—marriage-equality countries include Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Norway; with England and France quickly reaching a consensus.
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But it’s becoming less strange to see two men in lederhosen holding hands in a Munich biergarten. And with five million visitors coming to the city each year, that’s still something we can say “Prost” to.
Dorothea from Germany
“The liberal Free Democratic Party, which has many gay members, has given its full support to same-sex marriage. But the more socially conservative Christian Democratic Union has not.”
These are just the two right-leaning parties. All left-leaning parties in the parlament support marriage equality.
dvd-junkie
Yeah, the FDP claims to support equality, and yet in parliament they recently voted against gay rights.
Bob LaBlah
Where is Ol’ Ernst Rhome when you need him?
alexoloughlin
France, Scotland and England are definitely the next to legalize it. The latter two will probably get a first draft of a bill early in 2013. Scotland may take the lead though and legalize it before England. Germany needs to get rid of Merkel and the CDU to make any headway. You can bet the former Hitler youth member in the Vatican will make extra special noise in his own country about that. The catholic cult is deeply entrenched in the southern part of Germany, especially in the regions of Bavaria (the Vatican rottweiler’s home territory) as well as Baden-Wurttemberg.