Civil unions made legal in Bavaria

Gay and lesbian couples in the German state of Bavaria may now officially register for civil unions, according to a bill approved by the State Parliament in Munich this week.

Civil unions have already been legalized in the states of Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia, but this is the first time homosexual partners will have the chance to apply for a civil union in Bavaria, a state known for being conservative. Previously, same sex marriages in Bavaria could only be documented by a notary.

Negotiations between the pro-business Free Demorats (FDP) and coalition partner the Christian Democratic Party (CSU) to make a readjustment to the current legal system had failed after the regional elections in autumn 2008.

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Gay and lesbian couples in the German state of Bavaria may now officially register for civil unions, according to a bill approved by the State Parliament in Munich this week.

The law goes into effect August 1.

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"Civil unions have already been legalized in the states of Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia, but this is the first time homosexual partners will have the chance to apply for a civil union in Bavaria, a state known for being conservative."
Civil Unions had already been legalized in the whole of Germany in 2001- just the "southern states" couldn't bring themselves to allow couples to register at the registry office like hetorosexual couples do. They instead preferred to continue to discriminate against them. I "married" my partner 7 years ago in Hamburg, and did so, of course, at the local registry office.

Bavaria failed in its attempt to block the federal law civil unions have always been legal in Bavaria.
The CSU however decreed that a notary should perform the ceremony rather than a registrar and generally registry offices
(with the exception of Munich) were denied to lesbians and gay men wishing to marry.

Theres a lot of things wrong with them, but the FDP as a party are fairly hot on LGBT issues (look who votes for them).
And they made it a condition of the coalition with the CSU that the law was changed.

It's a small step forward which is nice.

Sad sign of the times. Is this an image of germany you want in mind?
Two grown men engaged in a kiss? Me either.
What parties should encourage is family values, and cleaning up cities.
Stop being overly sensitive, and trying to please all.
Why people do behind closed doors is one thing, but this stuff shouldnt be encouraged.

I don't mind what heterosexuals do in bed, if they are are consenting adults it's their own business.
Don't really want their sexuality rammed down my throat all the time in public though or think that they should get special legal privileges becasue of what kind of sex they like.

Gay people I dont mind gay vampires is another story.

So, what are the differences between a "civil union" and a "marriage". Seriously.

IIRC Civil unions don't have all the benfits of a heterosexual marriage but all the down sides.

eg My ex boyfriend was unemployed for a long time.
If we were "married" I would have been responsible to keep him, he wouldn't have got welfare.
But I couldn't have used our "marriage" to lower my tax burden.

I have my differences with the notion anyway, but this inequality is one of the reasons I wouldn't want to go give credence to such a union by entering one.

I've a number of lesbian and gay friends who are married though, and am happy for them to have that choice.

Lestat "Joined: Today, 9:54 pm"

ironic that this particular little nazi decided to use the name of a gay vampire as his monicker ...

Bell - Just skim posts like that.

MT - so basically, if you'd have been in a "civil union" you would not have been responsible for your ex, but "married" you would have been?

Seriously, I'm a fan of an across the board solution. All of the rights and all of the responsibilities - regardless.

Uhm, yeah, I'm thinking you should follow your own advice.

unlike the UK and some other countries, civil unions in Germany do not give the same rights or responsibilities as heterosexual marriage. This is partly because it was one of the earlier countries to introduce the legislation.

If you look at the composition of Munich City Council.
The SPD, FDP, Grün-Rosa and Linke fractions already have a LGBT friendly position.
In the last elections, at a city level, even the CSU took part in 2 podium discussions on sexuality issues.

The only party with a council seat pushing "family values" and wanting a "clean up" is one you are quite possibly familiar with:

Bürgerinitiative Ausländerstopp (Wikipedia)

Sorry DDBug I should have been more precise.

Heteros get the tax splitting benefits and the duty of care responsibilty.
Homos don't get the tax benefits but still have the duty of cae responsibility.

Tsk, tsk, boys - DON'T feed the troll.

There's been loads of LGBT stories in the papers recently.
I guess they know it's the CSD season.
Hope to see some of your reprobrates shamelessly flaunting it next week.

Ah - ok.

Though, seriously, the tax splitting thing is not worth the hassle. Get married (or unionized?) for love, not for money.

And ffs, get divorced for the same reasons, for lack of love, not for "saving taxes" - but that's another soapbox

That's crazy talk!

marriage for love?! marriage is a contract, it has little to do with love.

These seem to be automatically generated when someone posts on The Local website. Unfortunately, the ones that I've seen on here tend to be unbelievably ignorant.

Huh? The hassle of getting married is only worth it for the tax benefits. If you only care about the "love" side of things, getting married should be of no consequence.

This whole thing seems like a crock of shit really unless the same rights that hetero couples are given are given to gay couples as well.

if both are working and earning similar wages then the tax benefit is negligible or non-existent. Only if one partner earns significantly less than the other or not at all do you get any decent benefit.

@ Bell the cat - Nazi?
Ohhh, thats right. The smear job, I get it. Nazi = evil and bad. Gotcha.
Hollywood for years implanted that impression, now people like you use it on anyone who disagrees with the 'politically correct'.
I'm not a nazi because I don't agree with same sex couples. Not a 'homophic' either.
This might puzzle you, but just because someone does not agree with something, it doesn't always mean they hate it either.
I believe on old values, tradition, pride and honor. Same sex to me, is just not healthy or natural.
As for my monicker, its my name - Sean Lestat. I'm not a fan of Anne Rice, and didn't name myself after a character in her books.

I mean really, the Godwin's law thing is getting out of hand around here. Must be because of the whole "we're in germany" thing. Try and think of better insults than "you're a nazi"

That being said...


Whats not to agree with? Don't you agree that people that love each other should be together, regardless of sex, and that each and every couple should have the same rights granted by the state?

Do you not agree with people expressing their love in public, hetero or homo?

What don't you agree with??


We know, but this is not something to agree to.
You live your life, others live theirs, everybody gets equal rights.


How is it not healthy?

And

What is natural? There are documented cases of homosexual behaviour in other animals.

And in the end... what's it to you what other people stick in their bums, kiss on the street or file taxes with?

Live by your old values, let others live our degenerate lives. We'll all meet again in hell someday