Photos: Germany ushers in first gay marriage under new same-sex laws

Several dozen same-sex couples tied the knot in Germany on Sunday as civil registry offices opened specially to mark the coming into force of a law passed by parliament in June extending marriage equality for same-sex unions. ...read more

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Same-sex couples married in Germany for the first time on Sunday, with several dozen couples tying the knot at civil registry offices that opened specially to mark the coming into force of a law passed by parliament in June. Among them were Karl Kreile (L) 59, and Bodo Mende (R), 60, who became Germany’s first married gay couple, exchanging vows at the town hall in Schoeneberg after 38 years together. (Odd Andersen / AFP)

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Germany’s parliament approved marriage equality in June after Chancellor Angela Merkel chose to make the vote a matter of conscience, freeing her Social Democrat coalition partners and many of her conservative lawmakers to vote for it. Rights organisations say more needs to be done to achieve full equality. It is still impossible for children born into a lesbian couple to have both parents as a legal mother. (Odd Andersen / AFP)

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Mende and Kreile, longtime gay marriage campaigners were among the first to enter a civil partnership in 2002. ‘I remember how it felt when we went to the registry office in Berlin Charlottenburg to request marriage,’ said Kreile. The official was nice, and so were the couples before and after us in the line, telling us: ‘We understand what you want.’ But afterwards I still had to feel a sense of shame. I felt discriminated against, being sent out again,’ he added. (Odd Andersen / AFP)

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‘Yes, I do,’ said Kreile, to applause from guests, before kissing his new husband. They then signed the marriage certificate. Guests feasted on a rainbow-coloured wedding cake decorated with the slogan ‘Marriage for all’. ‘I’m unbelievably satisfied, this is extremely symbolic to be recognised as a completely normal couple and no longer to have a second-class marriage,’ Kreile said cutting a slice of the cake. (Britta Pedersen / dpa via AP)

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Bode Mende (2nd R) and Karl Kreile (2nd L) kiss watched by their witnesses Angelika Daser (R), Joerg Steinert (L) and guests after becoming Germany’s first married gay couple. Mende called for Germany and the EU to do more to promote gay rights across Europe. ‘We don’t need to look far, just to the neighbour countries where the situation is more disturbing,’ he said, an apparent reference to Poland and others where same-sex marriage is still forbidden. (Odd Andersen / AFP)

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The new policy gives Germany’s roughly 94,000 same-sex couples the right to marry. Netherlands led the way in 2000, followed piecemeal by other European countries including Spain, Sweden, Britain and France. Same-sex relationships have become so normalised that polls show around 75% of Germans in favour of gay marriage. By extending the law to same-sex pairs, gay couples automatically gain the same tax advantages and adoption rights as heterosexual families. (Fabian Bimmer / REUTERS)

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Germany’s Greens party, and LGBT organisation LSVD began fighting for equal marriage rights around 1990. Since 2001 gay couples have had to make do with civil partnership, broadened over the years to remove gaps between gay and straight couples’ rights. But in issues like blood donations or access to reproductive medicine, homosexuals can be treated differently. ‘These are all things that we’ll tackle bit by bit,’ SDP gay and lesbian affairs commissioner Johannes Kahrs said. (Fabian Bimmer / REUTERS)

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Some other technical problems remain. The government’s registry software recognises only opposite-sex marriages and will only be updated next year. Until then, even same-sex couples will be recorded as ‘husband’ and ‘wife’. ‘The important thing is that we’ve pushed through the opening of marriage, and that’s the signal everyone needed.’ Kahrs added. (Odd Andersen / AFP)