Vom Verbot zur Gleichberechtigung - Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung

06 | Adoption Rights for Rainbow Families
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It is now only just one short step to full adoption rights
The exceptions still in effect with regard to the adoption rights of life partners are the last
major legal hurdle that needs to be taken. There are two options in this regard: either
lawmakers allow joint adoptions by amending the Life Partnership Act6 or they provide
same-sex couples access to the institution of marriage. 7 Then all of the special regulations
will become redundant. The journey down the path to legal equality, which was
embarked upon with the initiation of the Aktion Standesamt in 1992, could thereby be
brought to a logical conclusion. Then we can look forward to seeing what measures Bavaria
comes up with in order to ensure that it hobbles just a little behind in the march
towards social progress.
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4 The Higher Regional Court in Hamburg considers this a case of unconstitutional discrimi-nation and therefore
referred the question to the Federal Constitutional Court (Higher Regional Court Hamburg, decision dated December
22, 2010, 2 Wx 23/09). | 5 Rupp, Martina (ed.): Die Lebenssituation von Kindern in gleichgeschlechtlichen
Lebenspartnerschaften. Cologne, 2009. | 6 Thus decision No. 70 of the SPD National Party Convention of December
6, 2011 “Ungleichbehandlung im Adoptionsrecht” (Inequality in Adoption Law). Accessible under: www.spd.de/linkableblob/22014/data/70_beschluss_adoptionsrecht_ii.pdf.
| 7 Thus decision No. 68 of the SPD National Party
Convention of December 6, 2011 “Öffnung der Ehe” (Opening the Institution of Marriage). Accessible under: www.
spd.de/linkableblob/22004/data/68_beschluss_ehe.pdf. The proposition “Recht auf Eheschließung auch gleichgeschlechtlichen
Paaren ermöglichen” (Making it Possible for Same-Sex Couples to Marry) submitted by the SPD faction
in the Bundestag on December 14, 2011 (BT-Drucksache 17/8155) calls upon the federal government to submit
a corresponding draft law. This proposition and a draft law submitted by the BÜNDNIS90/DIE GRÜNEN faction
(“Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Einführung des Rechts auf Eheschließung für Personen gleichen Geschlechts” – Draft Law
for Introducing the Right of Persons of the Same Sex to Marry, BT-Drucksache 17/6343) was rejected on May 9,
2012 in the Judicial Committee of the Bundestag by votes from the ruling coalition and against the votes of the
opposition parties.