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Sites and Insights Gay Germany News & Reports 2007-08 Also see: Also see: 1 German Boy Is Youngest Transsexual At 12 Years Old 1/07 3 German Parliament Protests after Moscow Pride 6/07 4 Berlin memorial to persecuted gays 6/07 5 New documents reveal extent of Nazi persecution of gays 7/07 6 More Germans Respect Lesbian TV Host After Coming Out 11/07 7 Gay Nursing Home Opens in Berlin 1/08 8 Gay Holocaust memorial to be built in Berlin 2/08 9 Glad to be gay and grey in Berlin's new old people's home 3/08 10 Berlin Pays Tribute to Gay-Rights Activist Persecuted by Nazis 5/08 11 Mayor of Berlin unveils memorial to gay victims of Nazis 5/08 11a Interview with Klaus Wowereit Berlin’s Gay Mayor by Tim Pinckney 6/08 12 German Lutherans could elect first gay bishop 7/08 13 German court rules forced divorces for trans people unconstitutional 7/08 14 Gay Nazi victim memorial vandalized 8/08 15 Joy, and concern, over gay housing project 10/08 16 Gay political leader pledges to cut German aid to homophobic countries 12/08 17 Berlin memorial to gay victims of Nazis vandalized 12/08
January 30, 2007 1 by Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer Tim had harbored deep feelings of claiming to be "in the wrong body" and rallied for the treatment. Now, Kim is 14 years old and legally registered as a female. She is said to look like a typical girl of her age who likes dressing up. Although not identified publicly, Kim's father, called Lutz P., told the German publications Der Spiegel and Stern that as a child, Kim played with Barbie dolls, wore dresses and insisted that he was a girl. He said that Kim had been terrified when the first signs of puberty started to set in. Dr. Bern Meyenburg, the head of a clinic for children and adolescents with identity disturbances wrote in his diagnosis: "Kim is a mentally well-developed child who appears happy and balanced. There is no doubt of the determined wish, that was already detectable since early childhood. It would have been very wrong to let Kim grow up to be a man. It is rare to have such a clear-cut case." Dr. Achim Wuesthof, an endocrinologist specializing in children and adolescents, said: "To the best of my knowledge, Kim is the youngest sex change patient in the world." German law dictates that two independent psychiatrists must confirm a child's transsexuality to approve a sex change. Legally, Kim will undergo the final stage of the transformation which involves the surgical removal of the male genitalia when she turns 18.
2 Turkish Lesbian, gays, bisexuals and Transsexuals/Transgender are arranging this summer for the first time a meeting which will be arranged every year from now on. This year “YazBerlin” (SummerBerlin) will be from June 18th – June 22nd in the association rooms of GLADT. We expect participants from all around Germany and Europe (including Turkey ). All information about the meeting (including this years program and the signing form) are available on YazBerlins self made website: www.yazberlin.de (Turkish, German, English). For any other question you can contact the YazBerlin Team from Monday –Thursday: 030/26 55 66 33 Or any time: yazberlin@gladt.de. We would be very happy if many people could participate in the meeting between the Motz Street festival and the Berlin CSD. So we greatly appreciate if you send this email to other interested people. Ersan
June 1, 2007 3 German parliament president criticizes lawmaker's detention at Russian gay rights protest Germany's parliament president expressed concern to his Russian counterpart Wednesday over the weekend detention of a German opposition lawmaker at a gay rights demonstration in Moscow. Green party lawmaker Volker Beck has said police beat him and others and took their passports away Sunday, in what he said authorities called a "security measure." Parliament President Norbert Lammert, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, voiced "the dismay of the Bundestag," or lower house of parliament, in a letter to Russian speaker Boris Gryzlov, a parliament statement said. The demonstrators tried to present a letter signed by 40 European lawmakers to the office of Moscow's mayor, appealing at the city's ban on a march they wanted to conduct. Lammert said that should be viewed as "free expression of opinion." He said he hoped a Russian parliament working group on the protection of minorities' democratic rights would look into the case. Marco Cappato, a European Parliament deputy from Italy, was also among those detained on Sunday.
4th June 2007 4 by Amy Bourke
The German parliament approved the construction of the memorial in December 2003. A statement from the office of the culture minister confirmed that the tribute "should be completed this year," according to Associated Press. Under the Nazi regime, 15,000 gay people were convicted as criminals and up to 15,000 were deported to concentration camps. Few survived. The laws used against gay people in Germany remained on statute books until 1969. But the German parliament of 2002 issued a formal pardon for any gay people convicted by the Nazis.
July 12, 2007 5 by DPA So gay pride in a number of cities in Germany means a mixture of jubilant parades and solemn walking tours for a new post-liberation generation of gay men and lesbians who are discovering a hitherto unpublicized dark chapter of Nazi persecution. After German unification, hundreds of thousands of case histories were released and historians have been sifting through them. Their findings are just now being published. And the findings have shocked even many historians who knew that atrocities had occurred, but were surprised by the extent of them. The Gestapo launched a systematic crack-down on gays in the mid- 1930s. They actively entrapped gay men. The Gestapo created a vicious protection racket that allowed gay bar owners to remain in business, on condition that they handed over names of customers on a regular basis. Landlords were bribed to inform on tenants. If someone at work didn't like a bachelor co-worker, all he had to do was to go to the Gestapo and suggest a sexual advance had been made, and the next day the co-worker would be gone. It mattered little whether there was any truth to the allegations. Everyone knew that Nazi ideology demanded procreation to produce a Master Race of blond and blue-eyed Aryans. Anybody who didn't get married and sire lots of kids was already practically a criminal. Being a bachelor automatically made a man a suspicious character in Nazi Germany. Paradoxically, and cruelly, gay men were offered the alternative of "voluntary castration" with vague promises of leniency. They would undergo botched operations that left them with oozing wounds. And they would still end up in concentration camps. The macabre walking tour in Hamburg starts in front of the city's biggest and most venerable department store, Alsterhaus, on the city's main street. English writer Stephen Spender described in detail the pleasures of cruising for "seafood" (sailors) in Hamburg port-side gay bars around 1930. It was also at Alsterhaus that the gay pogrom in Germany started exactly 70 years ago, in the summer of 1937. Gestapo men in leather trench coats entered the store during business hours and rounded up about 40 gay employees, who were hauled off in vans waiting out on the street - where this year's gay pride rally will be held. What followed was weeks and months of "protective custody" and transfers to mental asylums for "curative treatment" and eventual sentencing to concentration camps. Many were still wearing their pink triangle patches on their prison uniforms as late as 1946 - because post-war courts had upheld their Nazi-era convictions for "unnatural behaviour," despite the fact that all other Nazi-persecution convictions were dropped. Some men were still in prison in the early 1950s. The Alsterhaus department store raid was just the beginning. Raids occurred with growing frequency in the late 1930s. The newly revealed documents show that the raids in Hamburg were repeated all throughout the Reich. In all, 54,000 gay men died at the hands of the Nazis in Germany, 7,000 of them in Nazi death camps. The gay historical walk through Hamburg takes you past one-time gay bars and gay-owned businesses, past the Gestapo headquarters and past a publishing house that specialized in gay magazines. With Prussian thoroughness, the Nazis documented every detail of the lives of those they rounded up. Those documents provide chilling insights into a hitherto unknown story. One of the most chilling cases was that of Carl Bruns and Heinrich Roth, a gay couple who ran an upscale men's clothing shop in downtown Hamburg - right across the street from Gestapo headquarters. Bruns and Roth were arrested in 1940 and, after months of "pre- trial detention," they were sent to concentration camps near Hamburg. By some miracle, both men survived until the May 1945 when the camps were being liberated by Allied forces. That's when the final tragedy struck from Bruns and Roth. Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army in early 1945, and the pictures of skeletal camp inmates shocked the world. In response, Heinrich Himmler issued an order to all camp commandants that they were to ensure that no camp inmates should ever fall into the hands of Allied forces. He didn't specify what they should do, leaving it in the hands of camp commandants. Some commandants at Dachau and other camps, began gassing all surviving inmates so that none would be left alive. Others began evacuating their inmates. Thus Bruns and Roth were forced to leave their camp near Hamburg on a forced march to the Baltic Sea, 100 kilometress away, where the converted cruise liner Cap Arcona was at anchor. This was in mid May 1945. Hitler was dead. The Allies were advancing on all fronts. Everyone knew that the war was over. All the inmates had heard the news. British forces had dropped leaflets saying they would be in Hamburg within hours. And yet these men were sent on a Death March to the sea. Stragglers were machine-gunned to death. Others collapsed and died of exhaustion. Bruns died along the way. Roth made it to the Baltic Sea docks where the Cap Arcona was waiting and he was herded aboard along with thousands of other inmates. It was May 19, 1945. The British RAF was conducting intensive air raids to pave the way for ground forces, which were only a few miles away. RAF fighter-bombers had been told that Nazi officials were seeking to flee Germany aboard a big ship disguised as a refugee vessel. The RAF planes came in and bombed and strafed the Cap Arcona, setting it ablaze and sending it to the bottom. Those inmates who managed to dive into the water were either killed by the bombs and strafing from the planes or else were machine-gunned by Gestapo men as they tried to climb ashore. A handful found shelter in reeds along the shore and were found shivering in the water by British soldiers a few hours later. The Cap Arcona had been the last bombing raid of the war in Europe. Schildt, the haberdasher from Hamburg, didn't survive it.
November 21, 2007 6 The recent announcement by nationally known TV host and former news anchor Anne Will that she is a lesbian has not damaged her image, a new survey showed. On the contrary, some respondents said they liked her more. In a survey commissioned this week by the newsmagazine Stern, 16 percent of Germans questioned said they liked television talk show host Anne Will even more since she announced over the weekend she was in a lesbian relationship. Only seven percent said she appealed to them less. Will had appeared at a public event over the weekend with Miriam Meckel, a media professor who is also a member of Deutsche Welle's broadcasting board. Posing for pictures, Will confirmed that Meckel was her partner and, all smiles, added: "We want to keep our private life private." Most of the people surveyed said they were indifferent to her announcement. Around two-thirds, or 64 percent, said they liked her just as much as before. Over 500 people were polled.
21st January 2008 7 by Gemma Pritchard "The idea was first proposed at the Gay and Grey Forum in Cologne in 1995 and we began drafting plans in 2001, and it is truly amazing that it has taken all these years to become a reality," Christian Hamm, a Berlin-based architect and nursing home board member told DPA. "So we are even more pleased and proud that we have finally been able to open Europe's first full-service nursing facility for elderly gays and lesbians." Furnishings and decor are very important in a gay environment, says Hamm. "When you are old, the last thing that you want to do is to have to hide. And you certainly don't want to give up your identity and live in some hostile environment, possibly sharing a room with someone who despises you." Hamm and his associates in Berlin have ambitious plans not only for the nursing home but also for an assisted-care retirement centre specifically for homosexuals, a place that will allow gays to grow old surrounded by other gays. The nursing-care facility is just part of a $10,000,000 (£5, 120, 590) old-age complex which will one day offer residents spacious apartments, a café and function room facilities. In addition, the post-modern design by Christian Hamm envisions a health-care centre with physicians, therapists and a wellness gym is also incorporated into the plan. Potential residents are already signing up and have expressed delight at the prospect of living out their twilight years in a gay- friendly environment. "I wouldn't like to be in a heterosexual environment all the time," one applicant told DPA. "Elderly people like to talk about their children and their grandchildren, for instance. A large number of homosexuals do not have children and find it hard to join in. For us, talking about the grandkids is awkward." In the mid 1990s it seemed homosexuality had been generally accepted in Germany. But surveys revealed that many social workers did have a problem with it, particularly in former East Germany, where homosexuality was discounted as a "symptom of decadent capitalist imperialism." Researchers were shocked to find that directors of senior homes said things like: "There is no homosexuality here." The turn came only after 2001, when the centre-left government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder enacted gay-union legislation which gave homosexual couples many of the same rights and privileges as married couples. The idea for a gay old-age home came from Hamm, 45. A long-time gay activist, Hamm says the greying generation of older gays in Germany have find themselves alone. "They have no children or grandchildren," he says, "and as they grow older they find themselves with no close relatives to support them when they are no longer able to take care of themselves." Mayor Wowereit, 54, who was elected in June 2001 after telling Berlin voters, "I'm gay and that's good," has actively supported the project and says it dovetails into his vision of Berlin. "Berlin is a gay-friendly city, a city of tolerance," the mayor says. "And I represent our city with this message. Berlin has the biggest gay and lesbian scene in Germany and we welcome gays of all ages."
4th February 2008 8 by PinkNews.co.uk staff writer There will be two alternated videos which show either two men kissing or two women kissing. Originally, the plan was for a video of just two men, but that proposal drew heavy criticism from people who claimed that lesbians were being excluded. Its design echoes Peter Eisenman's Berlin memorial to the Nazis' Jewish victims, a vast field of more than 2,700 slabs. The German parliament approved the construction of the memorial in December 2003. Between 5,000 and 15,000 gay men were held in concentration camps by the Nazis as members of an "anti-social group." Historians estimate that 60% of them died while incarcerated. After the war gay men were not recognised as victims of the Holocaust and many were re-imprisoned by the authorities because of the sexuality. They were denied the reparations and state pensions available to other groups. In 2002 the German government formally pardoned homosexuals imprisoned by the Nazis. As well as an estimated six million Jews, hundreds of thousands of Roma people died in Nazi concentration camps. A memorial to them will be constructed later this year.
9 March 17 2008 by Jess Smee "We just want people to be able to speak freely of their pasts. They shouldn't have to worry about reactions or prejudices," says Kerstin Wecker, who runs the centre. "It's simple really: no one should be shocked to go into a man's room and see a picture of another man. No one should have to explain themselves to others at this stage of life." Tucked away in a quiet corner of the city's northern Pankow district, the home, which takes its name from a Danish film starlet, has space for 28 residents. Half of the care assistants working there are also homosexual - something a survey of potential residents showed was a priority. Aside from an automatic acceptance of their past, the home is run like any other, Wecker says. "We don't want to be exotic, just a slice of everyday life." The idea of a gay-only project for elderly people was first mooted at a "gay and grey" congress in Cologne in 1995. It reflects fears among Germany's first openly gay generation about what will happen when they are too frail to care for themselves. "At the moment, most gay and lesbian residents keep themselves hidden. Imagine one gay person in a home of 100 people. It can be lonely and isolating," says Christian Hamm, who is on the board of the organisation behind the care-home plan. Hamm and his associates are now drawing up plans for an assisted-care retirement centre for gay people in another Berlin district. And that is just what the Asta Nielsen Haus wants. Its organisers are proud to be trailblazers, but hope that it won't be long before their project is seen as nothing unusual. "We don't want to be the only one," says Wecker. "We hope this idea takes off."
07 May 2008 10 by DW staff (ncy) Hirschfeld had founded the world's first institute dedicated to fighting discrimination against homosexuals. He went into exile in France and died there in 1935. The stretch of river bank named after Hirschfeld is near his former institute. "A first step" According to Germany's Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) and the Mitte district of Berlin, where "Magnus-Hirschfeld-Ufer" is located, a bronze monument to Hirschfeld will also be erected along the river. The Charite hospital also commemorated Hirschfeld with an exhibition which opened on Tuesday at its Medical Historical Museum. Called "Sex Burns," the exhibition focuses on Hirschfeld's work and his persecution by the Nazis. The tributes to Hirschfeld are "a clear acknowledgment for gays that persecution has taken place and that reparation is necessary," said the head of Germany's Lesbian and Gay Association, Alexander Zinn, said at the dedication ceremony. "That is a first step in the right direction," he said. The Nazis declared homosexuality an aberration.
May 28, 2008 by Tony Grew It is estimated that 45,000 to 100,000 German homosexuals were arrested under Nazi rule between 1933 and 1945. Up to 10,000 of them died in concentration camps. Many survivors, far from being liberated, were transferred to prisons. The laws used against gay people in Germany remained on statute books until 1969. It was only in 2002 that the German parliament issued a formal pardon for any gay people convicted by the Nazis and in 2003 it approved the construction of the memorial. The homosexual victims of Nazi Germany remained excluded from the public process of remembrance of past injustices until recent times and were denied compensation for their suffering under Nazi rule. "This is symptomatic for a society that did not abolish unjust verdicts, but partially continued to implement them; a society which did not acknowledge a group of people as victims, only because they chose another way of life," said Mayor Wowerit. The new memorial is situated in Berlin's Tiergarten Park, close to the Brandenburg Gate and opposite the Jewish Holocaust Memorial. It consists of a four metre tall grey rectangular block. One side has a small opening through which viewers can see a black and white art film scene of two men kissing. A simple kiss could land you in trouble, reads the inscription. During the opening ceremony, Linda Freimane, a member of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board, said: "Today, our continent is a safe place to live if you are homosexual – safe in comparison with many other places on our earth, where homosexuality is still considered a punishable crime. Europe has come a long way in its battle for the right of each individual and in dealing with its history of discrimination. Today, in many European countries, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people along with other vulnerable groups enjoy the protection of their state against prejudice, discrimination and violence. In many places in Europe same-sex partners can register their partnership or get married, in some countries the state also supports our wish to become equal parents. We have not yet reached full equality, but we sense the political will to get there. But this is not enough. You must now also be the ones who do not stay silent when other countries, which have already entered the EU or are knocking on its door, violate the rights of their own citizens. Please remind homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, racist and sexist political leaders that they too belong to a Europe, which is built on the assumption of each individual’s right to freedom, dignity, and respect and to seek his or her own happiness. And please, do not forget all those LGBTI people around the world who live in fear and despair, who face persecution, humiliation, imprisonment and death for simply being who they are. I hope that the present and future mayors of Berlin and members of German governments will remember to bring their foreign guests to this memorial when they show them the beautiful city of Berlin."
June 2008 11a The new catch phrase for Germany’s capital city is “Berlin, Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin,” which translates into “Berlin, Berlin, we’re going to Berlin.” Clearly the hope is that everyone planning a European expedition will enthusiastically chant the eager new motto for this enigmatic city. It’s a safe bet. With its pulsating energy, extraordinary history, and its unending devotion to all things artistic, Berlin should be on every European traveler’s radar as a destination not to be missed. This dynamic city has an equally dynamic leader in Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit. Native born and bred, this warm and vibrant man is in his second term, having been first elected in 2001 and enthusiastically re-elected in 2006. It is noteworthy to mention that before his first campaign began, Wowereit proudly stepped up and informed the people of Berlin, “ich bin schwul und das ist auch gut so—I am gay and that is a good thing.” As it turns out, it is a wonderful thing for the city of Berlin. Certainly the LGBT population of any city that suddenly finds itself with a gay mayor would see cause for celebration. Wowereit is quick to point out that “my policies are intended to serve all of the people of Berlin. I am here for everyone. At the same time, of course, I do have opportunities to help minorities, including gays and lesbians. The fact that the head of the government of a metropolis like Berlin is gay is quite important to the LGBT community in Germany, and apparently internationally as well.” For a city like Berlin to have as its mayor an out gay man, it would seem that certain responsibilities to his community would logically be implied by that visibility. The Mayor states, “I wouldn’t necessarily refer to ‘responsibilities’ in this regard, since most of the LGBT community’s concerns are concerns I share on a personal level. That community, of course, expects me to be especially active in responding to homophobia. For instance, I have been very clear in my statements about the ban on pride parades in Eastern European cities like Moscow and Warsaw. Berlin is an open and tolerant city, and I’d like to see the same climate elsewhere, too.” When Wowereit welcomed an international gay sadomasochist fetish party to his city in 2005, the distributed program for the event included a letter from the mayor stating, “Berlin is a tolerant and open metropolis. We are proud that people from different backgrounds and with different preferences feel comfortable here and party together.” Not surprisingly, conservatives did not embrace this warm mayoral reception and the Mayor’s judgment was called into question. Wowereit stood firm, stating, “There’s no question it is a flamboyant scene, but that is also Berlin…and as long as there is nothing forbidden happening, I expect tolerance.” Wowereit effortlessly personifies the hip, sophisticated, and tolerant image that pervades the city of Berlin. He has been actively involved and instrumental in raising the international profile of Berlin, tirelessly promoting culture and tourism. Although the city still faces high unemployment figures and mountains of debt, residents praise Wowereit for creating and encouraging the welcoming atmosphere in the city. “Berlin is an open and tolerant place, and I cultivate this atmosphere, not only because I want Berlin to be this way, but because our city benefits enormously from it. We have economic problems, and we need more jobs. The fact that Berlin is a magnet, especially for young people from all over the world who end up making their visions a reality here, has given us new, creative economic sectors like music, design, fashion, architecture, and art.” Berlin, which will celebrate 20 years of reunification in 2009, continues to develop and change. Housing is affordable, creativity is celebrated and encouraged, and it seems to be the ideal place to start a business. Wowereit says on his website (http://www.klaus-wowereit.de/international). “We are going to roll out the red carpet for those firms which move to Berlin. We have commercial properties at attractive prices to meet every need. For the smallest businesses and for the self-employed the local authorities will make subsidies available.” Tourism also continues to prosper. In fact, with the exceptions of London and Paris, Berlin currently draws more visitors annually than any other European city. Wowereit was born and raised here, in an area on the southern outskirts of West Berlin. He states, “As you know, Berlin was a divided city back then. I studied law and had an early interest in politics. I was very impressed by Willy Brandt, the former Governing Mayor of Berlin, German Foreign Minister and Chancellor, and the head of my party, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and I joined the SPD. Becoming a member of the borough council in the borough I lived in was the beginning of my political career. Later, I was elected to Berlin’s state parliament. When the coalition government made up of my party and the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) collapsed, I became the SPD candidate for the office of Governing Mayor of Berlin.” Much of Wowereit’s success can be attributed to his obvious devotion to the people of Berlin. “I see myself as a politician from the left, but it has always been important to me to work for pragmatic goals aimed at really helping people, rather than building castles in the air.“ Now comfortably into his second term, Wowereit says, “I’m more experienced this time around, and I’m no longer surprised to hear myself being addressed as ‘Governing Mayor,’ the way I was at the very beginning,” he says with a smile. Although Paris also has a gay mayor, an out and vocal elected official would most likely be a larger issue in other countries—including the U.S. “My being gay is not especially emphasized in meetings with hosts, stakeholders, or ordinary citizens. However, there are still a few incorrigibles out there who express their homophobia in hate mail, for instance. I use legal means to respond wherever possible.” Wowereit’s enthusiasm and commitment are contagious and his unending affection for his hometown is genuine. “…my Berlin is far more than a vibrant pulsating city. It is also the local ‘villages,’ the quiet corners, the neighborhoods. Here one can pause a while, here one can be heard, here people are there for one another. Berlin is such a loveable and livable city. This does not happen by itself and it must not be taken for granted, as we Berliners know all too well.” Thought by many to be the birthplace of gay liberation, Berlin offers a seemingly endless array of attractions that would pique the interest of any vacationer. Berlin Tourism has an incredibly comprehensive website which is very gay user-friendly (http://visitberlin.de). Wowereit states, “Berlin is open, tolerant, creative, and international. Those are attributes that are important to others, too, but especially to LGBT visitors from all over the world. We have a huge LGBT community here and a huge range of services and attractions targeting this group.” As Mayor of a prominent international city, Wowereit travels frequently for business. For personal vacations, he has very few travel necessities: “Particular destinations aren’t all that important. What I need is rest and a place to play golf….(And) If it’s a personal trip, I of course prefer to be traveling with my partner.” As for the future, Wowereit hasn’t thought past his days as a popular elected official. “I still enjoy what I’m doing, and there are still a lot of projects to be accomplished...I’d like to see Berlin become a thriving city on the economic level, too, and a city that offers high quality of life to all levels of society.”
July 4, 2008 12 by Adrian McBreen If elected he would become the first gay bishop in the EKD, which is a federation of regional Lutheran, Reformed and United Protestant churches. His election could create a rift similar to those caused by the question of gay clergy and same-sex unions in several other worldwide faiths, most prominently the Anglican Communion. However Maria Jepsen, who was elected as the world's first female Lutheran bishop in 1992, said she did not believe relations with other churches would suffer if a gay bishop were elected. Gorski is a widely respected theologian who founded a centre for gay and lesbian pastors. Launching his candidacy in Kiel this week, Gorski spoke about religious values and made no reference to his sexuality, reports Reuters. Gorski previously stated there had been initial misgivings about his homosexuality when he took up a post as an archdeacon, "but after a few years it was no longer an issue." His main concern today, he said, was that the Church should find a language that communicated with people.
July 24, 2008 13 by Tony Grew Germany introduced the "law on the change of first name and determination of gender identity in special cases," known as "Transsexuellengesetz," in 1980. In the UK, under the Gender Recognition Act, if a Gender Recognition Panel grants an application it must issue a gender recognition certificate to the applicant. If the applicant is married, the certificate is to be an interim gender recognition certificate. (4) Schedule 2 (annulment or dissolution of marriage after issue of interim gender recognition certificate) has effect. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the fact that an interim gender recognition certificate has been issued to either party to a marriage is a ground for that marriage being voidable. Proceedings for dissolution on this basis must be begun within six months of the issue of the interim certificate. In Scotland, on account of differences in marriage law, the grant of an interim certificate will provide a ground for divorce, rather than make the marriage voidable.
August 18, 2008 14 by Rachel Charman Of the memorial, an ILGA-Europe spokesperson said: "The Berlin memorial has important symbolic value. It is in the centre of a city from where decades ago the policies of the extermination of homosexual people along with such groups as Jews, gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses and political dissidents, was conceived and the deadly orders were given." More than 50,000 gays and lesbians are believed to have been convicted under the Nazis due to their sexuality. Up to 10,000 of them died in concentration camps. Many survivors, far from being liberated, were transferred to prisons. The laws used against gay people in Germany remained in the statute books until 1969. It was only in 2002 that the German parliament issued a formal pardon for any gay people convicted by the Nazis.
October 28 2008 15 by Kate Connolly in Berlin Jens Lidy, 41, a theatre and television director, said he felt liberated by his decision to move from his home in a suburb of Cologne to a flat in the complex. "As a gay person, I've spent my life playing a sort of hiding game, making sure the neighbours didn't know I was gay, because I never knew how they would react," he said. "I leaped at the chance to move into Villa Anders, because I feel I can finally be myself among people who have had a similar experience." His new flat boasts a balcony, and a view on to the project's leafy green courtyard. But what makes it most attractive for Lidy, he says, is the opportunity it gives him to live as an individual in a community. Cologne is home to the largest gay and lesbian community in Germany. It is also considered one of the most tolerant of European cities. Some have questioned why the development is necessary, and whether it will have the effect of separating the residents from the rest of the community. "I don't buy the 'ghetto' arguments," says Stefan Jüngst, a spokesman for the project. "The point is, this puts us in the middle of the community. In many European cities, like Warsaw or Moscow, this sort of thing would not be possible - because there's so much homophobia that the place would be firebombed within days." Villa Anders follows several similar but unsuccessful projects in other German cities. A retirement home for gay and lesbian singles and couples was also opened in Berlin last year. Jüngst said the aim had been to make the project as multi-generational as possible, but it had been difficult to attract over-60s, who were meant to fill 30% of the places. "Older gay men in particular have been fearful of becoming the targets of violence," Jüngst said. The number of attacks in Cologne in the past few years had been rising, he added. The biggest challenge had been to work with the neighbours to overcome prejudices, Jüngst said. "It is known that lots of projects like this have failed over the last 15 years largely because of local opposition," he said. "So we have taken the view we need to work closely together - inviting the neighbours to breakfast and meetings to discuss their concerns." While the residents will have their own individual living spaces, they will be encouraged to mix together socially, and younger residents will be encouraged to help older tenants with shopping and other care issues. pinknews.co.uk http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9812.html December 10, 2008 16 by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk The position of Foreign Minister normally goes to the leader of the junior coalition party. The next German Federal Elections are scheduled for September 27th, 2009. Ms Merkel's CDU is expected to be retain power. If chosen Mr Westerwelle, 46, would be the first out homosexual Foreign Minister in German history. "The great majority of the population has absolutely no problem with my private life," he told Stern. "It would be good if our foreign policy would bring this spirit of German tolerance to other countries." Mr Westerwelle effectively came out at Angela Merkel's 50th birthday party in July 2004, when he brought along his partner to an official function for the first time. He is more controversial in Germany for his views on lower taxes, a smaller state and cutting back the benefits system than for his sexual orientation. Gay activist Peter Tatchell recently called for all international aid to be stopped for, "viciously homophobic countries like Jamaica, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Iraq and Nigeria." The UK government is opposed to cutting aid. International Development minister Gareth Thomas told PinkNews.co.uk: "I do not think you should penalise the people of a country for policies that are not appropriate. We need to continue to engage with countries and be willing to raise difficult issues with them. We have to help them with those issues, as well as being blunt on occasion about issues around AIDS."
December 16, 2008 17 Berlin(AP) - Berlin's memorial to gay victims of the Nazis has been vandalized for the second time in four months. Berlin police say a window on the outside of the memorial has been broken, probably with a stone. The window allows visitors to see inside the concrete memorial and view a video of a same-sex couple kissing The memorial in Berlin's Tiergarten park was inaugurated in May and suffered similar damage to the same window in August. A protest held after that attack to denounce intolerance and homophobia drew more than 100 people including Berlin's openly gay mayor, Klaus Wowereit. |
The memorial will take the form of a gray concrete slab, with a window to allow visitors to view a video. There will be two alternated videos which show either two men kissing or two women kissing. Originally, the plan was for a video of just two men, but that proposal drew heavy criticism from people who claimed that lesbians were being excluded. Its design echoes Peter Eisenman's Berlin memorial to the Nazis' Jewish victims, a vast field of more than 2,700 slabs.