Presentation on LGTB Legislation by the German Group

LGBT rights in
Germany
Presentation by Nati, Jan, Stefanija, Hannah, Mario and Anja.

Introducing you to the subject

- Germany has frequently been seen

as one of the most gay-friendly

countries in the world

- A large majority of Germans

support same sex marriage.

- Another poll in 2013 indicated that

87% of Germans believed that

homosexuality should be accepted

by society, which was the second

highest score in the world following

Spain (88%).

- The former mayor of of Berlin is one

of the most famous open Gay people

in Germany next to the mayor of

Hamburg.

  

Paragraph 175, made homosexual acts between males a crime,

and in early revisions the provision also criminalized bestiality

as well as forms of prostitution and underage sexual abuse. All

in all, around 140,000 men were convicted under the law.

The law history

Same sexual activity between men was made illegal under paragraph 175 by the German empire in 1871, nazi Germany extended these law as during world war 2.

The extension was was repealed in the 50s and decriminalized in 1968 in both East and West Germany.

During the 1920s and 1930s, gay and lesbian people in Berlin were generally tolerated by the society and many bars and clubs specifically for gay men were open.

East Germany
East Germany inherited Paragraph 175. Communist gay activist Rudolf Klimmer, campaigned in 1954 to have the law repealed, but was unsuccessful. His work prevented any further convictions for homosexuality after 1957

In the five years following the Uprising of 1953 in East Germany, the GDR

Government instituted a program of "moral reform" to build a solid

foundation for the new socialist republic, in which masculinity and the

traditional family were championed, while homosexuality, seen to

contravene "healthy mores of the working people"

Then later on in 1968 homosexuality was decriminalized.

On the 11 August of 1987, the East German government opened a state owned

gay disco in Berlin.

It was claimed that the gay community was far more united in East Germany

then West.

West Germany

West Germany inherited Paragraph 175, which remained on the books until

1969, as opposed to East Germany, the churches influence in West Germany

was very strong.

The German Christian Democratic Union, the dominant political force in

post-war West Germany, tended to ignore or oppose most gay rights issues.

At the national level, advancements in gay rights did not begin to happen until

the end of the Cold War and the electoral success of the Social Democratic

Party.

In 1990, the law was changed so that homosexuality and bisexuality were no

longer grounds for being discriminated against in the military.

In 1986, the popular soap opera Lindenstraße showed the first gay kiss on

German TV.

Summary table

• Same-sex sexual activity is legal nationwide since 1968.
• Equal age of consent since 1994.
• Anti discrimination laws in employment since 2006.
• Same sex marriage since 2017.
• Recognition of same sex couples since 2001.
• Stepchild adoption by same-sex couples since 2005.

• Joint adoption by same-sex couples since 2017.
• LGBT people allowed to openly serve in the military since 2000.
• Right to change legal gender since 1980 (surgeries), and since 2011 sterilization is not required.
• Homosexuality declassified as an illness .
• Msms allowed to donate blood since 2017.