Decriminalised since 1968 in East Germany and since 1969 in West Germany Equal age of consent since 1988 in East Germany and since 1994 in unified Germany
Transgender people are allowed to change legal gender since 1980; Effective from 1 November 2024 individuals over 18 can change gender by self-determination[1]
Same-sex marriage has been legal since 1 October 2017, after the Bundestag passed legislation giving same-sex couples full marital and adoption rights on 30 June 2017.[5] Prior to that, registered partnerships were available to same-sex couples, having been legalised in 2001. These partnerships provided most though not all of the same rights as marriages, and they ceased to be available after the introduction of same-sex marriage. Same-sex stepchild adoption first became legal in 2005 and was expanded in 2013 to allow someone in a same-sex relationship to adopt a child already adopted by their partner.[6]
Discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity vary across Germany, but discrimination in employment and the provision of goods and services is banned nationwide. Transgender people have been allowed to change their legal gender since 1980. Effective from 1 November 2024 individuals over 18 can change gender by self-determination.[7] The law initially required them to undergo surgical alteration of their genitals in order to have key identity documents changed. This has since been declared unconstitutional.[8] In May 2020, Germany became the fifth nation in the world to enact a nationwide ban on conversion therapy for minors.[9]
Graph of convictions under Paragraph 175. Spike occurs during Nazi era, and dropoff after partial repeal in 1969.
Homosexuality was punishable by death in the Holy Roman Empire from 1532 until its dissolution in 1806 and from 1620 to 1794 in Prussia. The influence of the Napoleonic Code in the early 1800s sparked decriminalisations in much of Germany outside of Prussia. However, in 1871, the year the federal German Empire was formed, Paragraph 175 of the new Penal Code recriminalised homosexual acts. The first homosexual movement unsuccessfully campaigned for the repeal of the law both under the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic.
Under Nazism the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany resulted in convictions multiplying by a factor of ten to about 8,000 per year. Penalties were severe, and 5,000–15,000 suspected offenders were interned in concentration camps, where most of them died.[citation needed] The Nazi persecution is considered the most severe persecution of homosexual men in history.[citation needed]
The Nazi additions were repealed in East Germany in 1950, but homosexual relations between men remained a crime until 1968. West Germany kept the more repressive version of the law, legalising male homosexual activity one year after East Germany, in 1969. The age of consent was equalized in East Germany at 14 years in 1989,[24] and in unified Germany in 1994. It is now 14 years (16/18 in some circumstances) for female-female, male-male and female-male sexual activity.
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", continued to be prosecuted under Paragraph 175. Same sex activity was "alternatively viewed as a remnant of bourgeois decadence, a sign of moral weakness, and a threat to the social and political health of the nation".[26]
In East Germany, Paragraph 175 ceased to be enforced from 1957 but remained on the books until 1968. Officially, homosexuality was decriminalised in East Germany in 1968.[25][27]
According to historian Heidi Minning, attempts by lesbian and gay activists to establish a visible community were "thwarted at every turn by the GDR Government and the SED party". Minning wrote: Police force was used on numerous occasions to break up or prevent public gay and lesbian events. Centralised censorship prevented the presentation of homosexuality in print and electronic media, as well as the import of such materials.[28]
The Protestant Church provided more support than the state, allowing meeting spaces and printing facilities.[29]
On 11 August 1987, the East German Supreme Court affirmed that "homosexuality, just like heterosexuality, represents a variant of sexual behavior. Homosexual people do therefore not stand outside socialist society, and the civil rights are warranted to them exactly as to all other citizens".[26]
In 1988, the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden commissioned the state-owned film studio, DEFA, to make the documentary film Die andere Liebe ("The Other Love"). It was the first DEFA film about homosexuality and its aim was to convey official state acceptance.[30] In 1989, the German Hygiene Museum also commissioned DEFA to make the GDR's only HIV/AIDS prevention documentary, Liebe ohne Angst ("Love Without Fear"). This did not focus on homosexuality directly but pointed out that AIDS was not a "gay disease".[31][32]
In 1989, DEFA produced the film Coming Out, directed by Heiner Carow, telling the story of an East German man coming to accept his homosexuality, with much of it shot in East Berlin gay bars. It was the only East German feature film on the theme of same-sex desire ever produced.[33] It won a number of awards including a Silver Bear and Teddy Award at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival, and awards at the National Feature Film Festival of the GDR.[33][34][35]
Jürgen Lemke is considered one of the most prominent East German gay rights activists and has published a book on the subject ("Gay Voices from East Germany", English edition published in 1991). Lemke claimed that the gay community was far more united in the GDR than it was in the West.[36]
West Germany inherited Paragraph 175, which remained on the books until 1969. However, as opposed to East Germany, the churches' influence in West Germany was very strong. Fundamentalist Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church were staunchly opposed to LGBT rights legislation.[37]
The Frankfurt Homosexual Trials of 1950/51 constituted a significant chapter in the persecution of homosexual men within the Federal Republic of Germany, representing a continuity from the Nazi era while also occurring under the new administration of the Adenauer era. Primarily instigated by the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office, these trials were propelled forward with the aid of sex worker Otto Blankenstein, who served as a pivotal witness.[38]
Amidst prevailing socially conservative sentiments, the German Christian Democratic Union, wielding considerable political influence in post-war West Germany, generally disregarded or actively opposed gay rights issues. Conversely, their frequent coalition partners, the Free Democratic Party, often espoused stronger advocacy for civil liberties. However, as a smaller political entity, the Free Democratic Party was often reticent to antagonize the more socially conservative factions within the larger Christian Democratic Union.[37]
During the Cold War era, support for gay rights in Germany was generally restricted to the Free Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party and, later in the 1980s, the Greens. 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. For example, in 1990, the law was changed so that homosexuality and bisexuality were no longer grounds for being discriminated against in the military.[37]
The first kiss between two men on German television was shown in Rosa von Praunheim's film It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives (1971). This film marks the beginning of the German modern gay liberation movement. In 1986, the popular soap opera Lindenstraße showed the first gay kiss in a German TV series. From then on, many other television shows followed this example. The creation of private TV stations in 1984 resulted in a stronger LGBT presence in the media by the end of the decade. The station RTL in particular was very gay-friendly and some TV stars had come out by then.[37]
Annulment of convictions
In 2002, the German Government decided to overturn any convictions for homosexuality made during the Nazi period.[39]
In May 2016, Justice MinisterHeiko Maas announced that gay and bisexual men who were convicted of same-sex sexual activity after World War II would have their convictions overturned.[39] Maas said the following in a statement:
We will never be able to eliminate completely these outrages by the state, but we want to rehabilitate the victims. The homosexual men who were convicted should no longer have to live with the taint of conviction.
In October 2016, the German Government announced the introduction of a draft law to pardon around 50,000 men for the prosecutions they endured due to their sexual orientation.[40] On 22 March 2017, the Germany Cabinet officially approved the bill.[41] The bill, which also foresees compensation of €3,000 (£2,600) for each conviction, plus €1,500 (£1,300) for every year of jail time, then had to obtain parliamentary approval.[42] On 22 June 2017, the Bundestag (German Parliament) unanimously passed the bill to implement the scheme to rehabilitate gay and bisexual men.[43] The bill then went back to the Bundesrat for final approval, and was signed into law by German PresidentFrank-Walter Steinmeier on 17 July 2017.[44]
Compensation scheme
In September 2021, Germany implemented a compensation scheme for hundreds and possibly thousands of LGBT victims of the law criminalizing homosexual acts, which continued to apply in West Germany in its Nazi era version until 1969.[45][46][47]
Even though a majority of the political parties in the Bundestag supported legalising same-sex marriage, attempts to follow through with the proposal were repeatedly blocked by CDU/CSU, the largest parliamentary party and the dominant party in the government coalitions since 2005. This changed on the final sitting day of the Bundestag before the 2017 summer break, when the junior party in the coalition, the Social Democratic Party, introduced a bill to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption which had previously passed the Bundesrat in September 2015.[49] German Chancellor Angela Merkel moderated her stance on the issue by allowing members of the CDU/CSU to follow their personal conscience rather than the party line, which freed up moderate members who had long been in favour of same-sex marriage to vote for it.[50] On 30 June 2017,[51] the SPD, Die Linke and the Greens as well as 75 members of the CDU/CSU formed a majority in the Bundestag to pass the bill by 393 votes to 226.[52] The law came into effect three months after promulgation, on 1 October 2017.[53]
The first same-sex weddings in Germany were celebrated on 1 October 2017.[54] Berlin couple Karl Kreile and Bodo Mende, a couple for 38 years,[55] were the first same-sex couple to exchange their vows under the new law and did so at the town hall of Schöneberg, Berlin.[55]
Some religious groups and organisations formally bless same-sex marriages within Germany - for example all 20 lutheran, reformed and united churches in Evangelical Church in Germany, while others do not. In March 2023, it was reported that from 2026 within the Frankfurt region of Germany the Catholic church will perform same-sex blessings - that go against the policies of the Vatican.[59] After the Synodal Path first German dioceses of Catholic Church in Germany started blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples in April 2023, for example Roman Catholic Diocese of Osnabrück[60][61] or Roman Catholic Diocese of Essen.[62]
Adoption and parenting
A German gay couple living in Berlin with their daughter
In 2004, the registered partnership law (originally passed in 2001) was amended, effective on 1 January 2005, to give registered same-sex couples limited adoption rights (stepchild adoption only) and reform previously cumbersome dissolution procedures with regard to division of property and alimony. In 2013, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that if one partner in a same-sex relationship has adopted a child, the other partner has the right to become the adoptive mother or father of that child as well; this is known as "successive adoption".[63] The same-sex marriage law, passed in June 2017, gave same-sex couples full adoption rights.[52][53] On 10 October 2017, a court in Berlin's Kreuzberg district approved the first application for joint adoption of a child by a same-sex couple.[64]
There is no legal right to assisted reproduction procedures for lesbian couples, such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilisation, but such practices are not explicitly banned either. The German Medical Association is against explicit legalisation and directs its members not to perform such procedures. Since this directive is not legally binding, however, sperm banks and doctors may work with lesbian clients if they wish. This makes it harder for German lesbian couples to have children than in some other countries, but it is becoming increasingly popular. If a married lesbian couple conceives a child via donor insemination, the non-biological parent is not automatically recognized on the child's birth certificate and must go through an adoption procedure. This is not the case for married heterosexual couples, where the non-biological father is automatically recognized as a legal parent. A bill initiated by Alliance 90/The Greens in June 2018 to rectify this inequality is pending in the Bundestag.[65][66][67] In October 2018, the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) in Karlsruhe ruled that, unlike heterosexual couples, the wife of the child's legal mother does not automatically become a parent, and that an adoption is necessary. This specific case involved a lesbian couple from Saxony, who had converted their civil partnership in mid-October 2017 into a marriage. At the beginning of November, their child was born via artificial insemination. When trying to record the birth, only the biological mother was allowed to register. The couple then unsuccessfully applied to the registry office to correct the birth record so that the non-biological mother could also be listed as the child's mother. The office rejected this request, whereupon the woman filed suit. A district court in Chemnitz initially ruled for the couple, but the Dresden Higher Regional Court overturned this decision in April 2018. Eventually, after another appeal, the Federal Court of Justice ruled against them.[68][69] In its judgment, the Court referenced Paragraph 1592 of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, which states that "the father of a child is the man who at the moment of birth is married to the child's mother". The Ministry of Justice has begun looking into legal reforms to grant automatic co-parent recognition for lesbian couples.
LGBT people are permitted to serve openly in the German Armed Forces.
The Bundeswehr maintained a "glass ceiling" policy that effectively banned homosexuals from becoming officers until 2000. First Lieutenant Winfried Stecher, an army officer demoted for his homosexuality, had filed a lawsuit against former Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping. Scharping vowed to fight the claim in court, claiming that homosexuality "raises serious doubts about suitability and excludes employment in all functions pertaining to leadership". However, before the case went to trial, the Defense Ministry reversed the policy. While the German Government declined to issue an official explanation for the reversal, it was widely believed that Scharping was overruled by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and former Vice-Chancellor Joschka Fischer. Nowadays, according to general military orders given in the year 2000, tolerance towards all sexual orientations is considered to be part of the duty of military personnel. Sexual relationships and acts amongst soldiers outside service times, regardless of the sexual orientation, are defined to be "irrelevant", regardless of the rank and function of the soldier(s) involved, while harassment or the abuse of functions is considered a transgression, as well as the performance of sexual acts in active service.[72] Transgender persons may also serve openly in the German Armed Forces.[73]
In September 2020, the German Government issued a formal apology for past anti-gay discrimination in the military.[74][75][76] In November 2020, the German Cabinet approved legislation providing compensation to LGBT servicepeople for past discrimination and harassment. In March, 2021, the bill has been discussed in the Lower Chamber of Parliament (Bundestag), where it was supported by a majority - with some minor amendments suggested.[77] On May 20, 2021, the bill got a supporting vote in the Bundestag.[78][79][80]
In March 2021, it was reported that both transgender and intersex individuals can now serve openly within both the military and police in Germany.[81]
In the fields of employment, goods and services, education and health services, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is illegal throughout Germany. As a signatory to the Treaty of Amsterdam, Germany was required to amend its national anti-discrimination laws to include, among others, sexual orientation. It failed to do so for six years, due to discussions about the scope of the proposed laws. Some of the proposals were debated because they actually surpassed the requirements of the Treaty of Amsterdam (namely, extending discrimination protection for all grounds of discrimination to the provision of goods and services); the final version of the law, however, was criticised as not fully complying with some parts of the Treaty, especially with respect to the specifications about the termination of work contracts through labor courts.[82] The Bundestag finally passed the General Act on Equal Treatment (German: Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz) on 29 June 2006; the Bundesrat voted on it without discussion on 7 July 2006. Having come into force on 18 August 2006, the law bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, education, health services and the provision of goods and services.[83]
Some state constitutions have anti-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation and gender identity, including the constitutions of Berlin (since 1995), Brandenburg (since 1992), Bremen (since 2001), Saarland (since 2011) and Thuringia (since 1993), and Saxony-Anhalt in the public sector since 1997.[84][85][86] Article 10(2) of the Berlin Constitution reads as follows:[87]
No one may be prejudiced or favoured because of sex, birth, race, language, national or social origin, faith, religious or political opinions or sexual orientation.
Hate speech on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is banned in Germany.[88] German law prohibits incitement to hatred based on membership to a certain social or ethnic group. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 245 cases of homophobic and transphobic attacks occurred in the first half of 2019, compared to 351 recorded in all of 2018.[89]
Basic Law amendment
In 1994, although a majority in the Joint Constitutional Commission of the Bundestag and Bundesrat voted in favor of the inclusion of a prohibition on discrimination based on sexual identity in the Basic Law (Grundgesetz), the required two-thirds majority was not achieved.
In June 2018, the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia submitted a draft bill to the Bundesrat to amend article 3 of the Basic Law to add the characteristics "sexual and gender identity". In July, the draft proposal failed after the state of Berlin requested that it be rejected, as it became clear that the two-thirds majority would not be achieved.[90][91]
Since 1980, the Gesetz über die Änderung der Vornamen und die Feststellung der Geschlechtszugehörigkeit in besonderen Fällen has stated that transgender persons may change their legal sex following sex reassignment surgery and sterilization.[84][94] In January 2011, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that these two requirements were unconstitutional.[8][95]
In May 2019, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior presented a draft bill to reform the law. It was criticized by LGBT groups for failing to adopt a self-determination model and still requiring transgender people to go to court before a legal gender change. In addition, it would introduce the concept of "spousal veto", and requires a three-year waiting period before the applicant can reapply to change gender after a spousal veto or a negative court decision.[96]
In 2019, the German Society for Transidentity and Intersexuality estimates the number of transgender and intersex people in Germany at between 210,000 and 500,000 people.[97]
Since 2013, German law has allowed children born with atypical sexual anatomy to have their gender left blank instead of being categorised as male (männlich) or female (weiblich). The Swiss activist group Zwischengeschlecht criticised this law, arguing that "if a child's anatomy does not, in the view of physicians, conform to the category of male or the category of female, there is no option but to withhold the male or female labels given to all other children".[98] The German Ethics Council and the Swiss National Advisory Commission also criticised the law, saying that "instead of individuals deciding for themselves at maturity, decisions concerning sex assignment are made in infancy by physicians and parents".[99]
In November 2017, the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) ruled that civil status law must allow a third gender option,[100] meaning that intersex people would have another option besides being listed as female or male or having a blank gender entry.[101] A government proposal on the matter was presented in August 2018.[102] Intersex individuals would be able to register themselves as "divers" on official documents.[103] The resulting third gender law was approved by the Bundestag in December 2018,[104] and took effect on 1 January 2019.[105] The "divers" option is available for such documents as birth certificates, passports and driver's licenses; however, intersex people are required to receive a doctor's statement or medical certification confirming their intersex status, which was criticized by LGBT groups. Additionally, parents are able to use the "divers" category for newborns with unclear sex traits. In April 2019, the Ministry of the Interior clarified that the "divers" option is applicable to intersex people only, not transgender people.[106]
In August 2023, the Cabinet approved the Selbstbestimmungsgesetz (self-determination law) which the German government had proposed the previous year. Any adult—whether transgender, intersex or nonbinary—would have to give three months' notice that they are changing their first name and gender.[107][108]
In April 2024, the bill passed the Parliament of Germany on gender self-determination by a vote of 374-251. The law went into effect on 1 November 2024.[109][110]
Conversion therapy
Conversion therapy has a negative effect on the lives of LGBT people, and can lead to low self-esteem, depression and suicide ideation. It is opposed by every medical organisation in Germany.[111]
In 2008, the German Government declared itself completely opposed to the pseudoscientific practice.[112] In 2013, Alliance 90/The Greens introduced a draft bill to the Bundestag to ban conversion therapy on minors, but it was never voted on. A petition calling on the Health Ministry to ban the practice was launched in July 2018, and had collected about 60,000 signatures by mid-August 2018.
In February 2019, openly gay Health MinisterJens Spahn stated that he wanted conversion therapy for both minors and adults to be made illegal, calling it "a form of assault". Spahn said he hoped to work together with Justice MinisterKatarina Barley for a law to ban conversion therapy, that he hoped would be approved by the autumn of 2019.[113][114][115] In April 2019, after an online petition on the issue started by international LGBT organisation All Out collected around 110,000 signatures, Spahn called for a commission to draft proposals on how exactly such a ban can be introduced. The panel would then present its final report in autumn. The commission met in May and June for two full-day workshops. Likewise, the Ministry of Health invited politicians, scientists and those affected, as well as institutions from abroad who have already gained experience with legal prohibitions, to participate in the exchange. In June, Spahn presented in a press conference the results of two scientific reports that denounced conversion therapy and called for a legal ban.[116] In early November 2019, Spahn submitted a draft bill that would ban the use of conversion therapy on minors and punish those coercing, deceiving and threatening someone of any age into the practice.[117][118] On 18 December, the Cabinet gave its approval to the draft bill. Conversion therapy on adults would also be banned, provided there was a "lack of will power" such as coercion, threats, deceit or misapprehension. The ban would also be in effect for psychotherapeutic and pastoral conversations, but only if "the conversational partner purposefully tries to influence one's sexual orientation". People charged with illegally performing conversion therapy may face up to one year in prison. Offering, promoting and referring to conversion therapy in case of minors would also be deemed illegal and may carry a fine of €30,000 . Both people performing the therapies and legal guardians "grossly violating their duty of care" may be charged.[119] The legislation was approved by the Bundestag on 7 May 2020 with support from all political parties except the AfD.[120][121]
There was also an initiative of several federal states for a ban on conversion therapy. The states of Hesse, Berlin, Bremen, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein tabled a joint motion in the Bundesrat, which was presented in plenary on 12 April 2019.[122][123][124] The states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia agreed to the motion, while Bavaria expressed potential support but with some modifications. The motion was to be voted on in plenary in the Bundesrat in May, but was later postponed.[125] Another bill to ban conversion therapy for minors and a motion with numerous measures to educate and support victims of such practices was presented by the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag in March 2019.[126][127][128]
Blood donation
In Germany, as in many other countries, men who have sex with men (MSM) were previously not allowed to donate blood. In June 2016, German health ministers announced that the MSM ban would be lifted, replacing it with a one-year deferral period. The proposal to lift the ban was championed by Saarland Health Minister Monika Bachmann.[129] Since summer 2017, gay and bisexual men have been allowed to donate blood following a year of abstinence from sex.[130] Since September 2021, gay and bisexual men have been allowed to donate blood following four months of abstinence from sex.[131][132]
In June 2021, Reuters reported that Germany plans to implement an "individual risk based assessment" (similar format to the UK, Italy and Spain) blood donations that replaces the current one-year deferral period policy since 2017. It is not clear yet on when it will go into effect.[134] From 1 April 2023, the updated "individual risk based assessment" blood donation policy went into effect throughout Germany.[135]
Openly gay and lesbian politicians
There are several prominent German politicians who are openly gay. Among them are
former Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit (having outed himself with the famous words "Ich bin schwul – und das ist auch gut so!" ["I am gay – and that's a good thing!"]) and
In addition, former Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust (CDU) did not deny anything when his father outed him but considered it a private matter; after leaving office he began talking about his homosexuality. In July 2007, Karin Wolff, the Minister of Education for Hesse, came out as a lesbian.[138] In December 2013, Barbara Hendricks (SPD), the Federal Minister for the Environment in the Third Merkel Cabinet, came out as lesbian. In 2012, Michael Ebling (SPD) became the Mayor of Mainz. In 2013 and 2015, Sven Gerich (SPD) and Thomas Kufen (CDU) became the openly gay mayors of Wiesbaden and Essen, respectively.[139][140]
The first homosexual rights organization anywhere in the world was the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, founded in 1897 in Berlin by Magnus Hirschfeld to campaign for the repeal of Paragraph 175. The first gay journal in the world Der Eigene ("The Self-Owning") began publishing in 1896. The journal continued publishing, with contributions from Benedict Friedlaender, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Erich Mühsam and more, until 1932. During the 1920s and 1930s, two major mass organisations arose, the Bund für Menschenrecht and the Deutscher Freundschaftsverband, many further special interest groups followed, dozens of LGBQ+-journals got published in huge numbers, among them the world's first lesbian journals like Die Freundin, Garçonne, and Die BIF and the first ever transgender magazine Das 3. Geschlecht. Hundreds of gay bars and clubs created a vital LGBTQ+ landscape in Berlin. With the rise to power of the Nazi Party, officials closed the bars, censored and banned gay publications and forced all organisations of the movement do dissolve themselves. During the Nazi era, gay, lesbian and trans people were persecuted by authorities and sometimes imprisoned in concentration camps.
Right after the second world war, some LGBT+-activists tried to establish a new movement, fighting the continuation of Nazi anti-gay laws. The first homosexual publication, Amicus-Briefbund, was founded in 1948, followed by other magazines in the early 1950s. Activists in Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt founded new organisations to follow up the powerful movement of the 1920s. Internal disputes and the repressive climate of the young Federal Republic, however, prevented a development as successful as the one of the Weimar Republic, and by the end of the 1950s the movement had already failed and reached its end. It was not until the liberalization of the social and political climate in the second half of the 1960s that homophile organizations made a modest new start, but they were soon marginalized by the rise of the modern gay and lesbian movements.
The Homosexual Action West Berlin (Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin, HAW) was founded on 15 August 1971. The group formed as a result of Rosa von Praunheim's film It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives. From 1973 onwards, the group organised annual meetings with several other gay groups including the Homosexuelle Aktion Göttingen, founded in 1972 in the city of Göttingen, and the Homosexuelle Frauengruppe Münster (Homosexual Women's Group Münster). The first gay and lesbian protest was organised in Münster on 29 April 1972. The groups campaigned for the repeal of Paragraph 175 and societal acceptance of LGBT people. In 1975, several members of HAW split from the group to form their own organisation, the Lesbisches Aktionszentrum Westberlin (Lesbian Action Center West Berlin). HAW began to lose influence from the late 1970s; founding the gay club SchwuZ (SchwulenZentrum) and eventually shuting down in the late 90s.[145] The Federal Association of Homosexuality (Bundesverband Homosexualität) was established in Cologne in 1986 and dissolved in 1997. In 1990, the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany (LSVD, Lesben- und Schwulenverband in Deutschland) was founded in Berlin. The LSVD is today Germany's largest LGBT rights organisation. Several more advocacy groups were formed, including Lesbenring in 1982, the Association of Lesbian and Gay Journalists (Bund Lesbischer und Schwuler JournalistInnen) in Cologne in 1997, the Ecumenical Working Group Homosexuals and the Church (Ökumenische Arbeitsgruppe Homosexuelle und Kirche) in 1977, and the Association of Gay and Lesbian Police Officers (Verband lesbischer und schwuler Polizeibediensteter), among many others. The Bundesverband Trans* and Intersexuelle Menschen e.V. are among several groups campaigning for transgender and intersex rights.
A May 2019 study revealed that 6.9% of the German population identified as LGBTI. The study also showed that 10.6% of the population of Cologne between the ages of 18 and 75 described themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer. This accounted to over 87,000 people in the city.[149] In 2019, the European Union Agency For Fundamental Rights conducted a survey of LGBT individuals which found that 18% identified as Protestant, 17% as Catholic and 55% as irreligious.[150] A 2023 survey found that most religious LGBT Germans identified as Protestant.[151]
A 2013 Pew Research Center poll indicated that 87% of Germans believed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, which was the second highest in the 39 countries polled, following Spain at 88%.
46% of 20,000 German LGBT people said they had experienced discrimination because of their sexual orientation and gender identity in the past year per the 2013 results of a survey by the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (the EU average was 47%). Two-thirds of respondents said they concealed their sexual orientation at school and in public life and a fifth felt discriminated at work.[152]
In May 2015, PlanetRomeo, an LGBT social network, published its first Gay Happiness Index (GHI). Gay men from over 120 countries were asked about how they feel about society's view on homosexuality, how they experience the way they are treated by other people and how satisfied are they with their lives. Germany was ranked 14th with a GHI score of 68.[153]
A 2017 poll found that 83% of Germans supported same-sex marriage, 16% were against.[154] For comparison, the 2015 Eurobarometer found that 66% of Germans thought that same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, 29% were against.[155]
The 2019 Eurobarometer showed that 88% of Germans believed gay and bisexual people should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual people, and 84% supported same-sex marriage.[156]
The 2023 Eurobarometer found that 84% of Germans thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, and 84% agreed that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex".[157]
(Both altruistic and commercial surrogacy are illegal for all couples, different-sex and same-sex; however, case law allows a foreign judicial decision establishing legal parenthood of the genetic father and his life partner to be recognised under certain conditions in case of surrogacy abroad)[162]
(Legal since 2017; From 1 April 2023, the updated "individual risk-based assessment" blood donation policy was brought into effect throughout Germany.[135])
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBTQ people in society. Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBTQ people and their interests, numerous LGBTQ rights organizations are active worldwide. The first organization to promote LGBTQ rights was the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, founded in 1897 in Berlin.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBTQ rights that took place in the year 2002.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in Hungary face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Homosexuality is legal in Hungary for both men and women. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and sex is banned in the country. However, households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for all of the same legal rights available to heterosexual married couples. Registered partnership for same-sex couples was legalised in 2009, but same-sex marriage remains banned. The Hungarian government has passed legislation that restricts the civil rights of LGBT Hungarians – such as ending legal recognition of transgender Hungarians and banning LGBT content and displays for minors. This trend continues under the Fidesz government of Viktor Orbán. In June 2021, Hungary passed an anti-LGBT law on banning "homosexual and transexual propaganda" effective since 1 July. The law has been condemned by seventeen member states of the European Union. In July 2020, the European Commission started legal action against Hungary and Poland for violations of fundamental rights of LGBTQI people, stating: "Europe will never allow parts of our society to be stigmatized."
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Austria have advanced significantly in the 21st century, and are now considered generally progressive. Both male and female forms of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Austria. Registered partnerships were introduced in 2010, giving same-sex couples some of the rights of marriage. Stepchild adoption was legalised in 2013, while full joint adoption was legalised by the Constitutional Court of Austria in 2016. On 5 December 2017, the Austrian Constitutional Court decided to legalise same-sex marriage, and the ruling went into effect on 1 January 2019.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Bosnia and Herzegovina may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female forms of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Fiji have evolved rapidly over the years. In 1997, Fiji became the second country in the world after South Africa to explicitly protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation in its Constitution. In 2009, the Constitution was abolished. The new Constitution, promulgated in September 2013, bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. However, same-sex marriage remains banned in Fiji and reports of societal discrimination and bullying are not uncommon.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have developed significantly over time. Today, lesbian, gay and bisexual rights are considered to be advanced by international standards.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Iceland rank among the highest in the world. Icelandic culture is generally tolerant towards homosexuality and transgender individuals, and Reykjavík has a visible LGBT community. Iceland ranked first on the Equaldex Equality Index in 2023, and second after Malta according to ILGA-Europe's 2024 LGBT rights ranking, indicating it is one of the safest nations for LGBT people in Europe. Conversion therapy in Iceland has been illegal since 2023.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Australia rank among the highest in the world; having significantly advanced over the latter half of the 20th century and early 21st century. Opinion polls and the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey indicate widespread popular support for same-sex marriage within the nation. Australia in 2018, in fact was the last of the Five Eyes set of countries - that consisted of namely Canada (2005), New Zealand (2013), United Kingdom (2014) and the United States (2015) to legalize same-sex marriage. A 2013 Pew Research poll found that 79% of Australians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, making it the fifth-most supportive country surveyed in the world. With its long history of LGBTQ activism and annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, Sydney has been named one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world.
Danish lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights are some of the most extensive in the world. In 2023, ILGA-Europe ranked Denmark as the third most LGBTQ-supportive country in Europe. Polls consistently show that same-sex marriage support is nearly universal amongst the Danish population.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Japan have fewer legal protections than in most other developed countries, although some developments towards stronger rights have been made in the 2020s. Same-sex sexual activity was criminalised only briefly in Japan's history between 1872 and 1881, after which a localised version of the Napoleonic Penal Code was adopted with an equal age of consent. Same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are ineligible for the legal protections available to opposite-sex couples, although since 2015 some cities and prefectures, covering over 60% of the population by 2023, offer "partnership certificates" to recognise the relationships of same-sex couples and provide some legal benefits. Japan is the only country in the G7 that does not legally recognize same-sex unions nationally in any form. In March 2021 and May 2023, the Sapporo and Nagoya District Courts ruled that not recognising same-sex marriage was a violation of the Constitution respectively. While in June 2022, the Osaka District Court ruled that not recognising same-sex marriage was not a violation of the Constitution, in November 2022, the Tokyo District Court ruled that the absence of same-sex marriage legislation was an unconstitutional state of affairs but did not violate the Constitution, though the court's ruling has no immediate legal effect. In June 2023, the Fukuoka District Court ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage was constitutional. A second ruling in September 2023 concluded that same-sex relationships should not be excluded from Japan's marriage system.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals in the Republic of the Philippines have faced many difficulties in their homeland, such as prejudice, violence, abuse, assault, harassment and other forms of anti-LGBT rhetoric. Many LGBT Filipinos are met with mixed attitudes and reactions by their families, friends and others in their communities, as well as professionals, educators, their national public officials, politicians, attorneys and others working for the government and the rest of the general population.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Azerbaijan face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Azerbaijan since 1 September 2000. Nonetheless, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are not banned in the country and same-sex marriage is not recognized.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Moldova face legal and social challenges and discrimination not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same rights and benefits as households headed by opposite-sex couples. Same-sex unions are not recognized in the country, so consequently same-sex couples have little to no legal protection. Nevertheless, Moldova bans discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace, and same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1995.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Indonesia face legal challenges and prejudices not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Traditional social norms disapprove of homosexuality and gender transitioning, which impacts public policy. Indonesian same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for any of the legal protections available to opposite-sex married couples. Most parts of Indonesia do not have a sodomy law, and the country does not currently prohibit non-commercial, private and consensual sexual activity between members of the same-sex, yet there is no specific Indonesian law that protects the LGBT community against discrimination and hate crimes. In Aceh, homosexuality is illegal under Islamic Sharia law and it is punishable by flogging or imprisonment. Indonesia does not recognize same-sex marriage.
Laws governing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights are complex in Asia, and acceptance of LGBTQ persons is generally low. Same-sex sexual activity is outlawed in at least twenty Asian countries. In Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, homosexual activity results in death penalty. In addition, LGBT people also face extrajudicial executions from non-state actors such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. While egalitarian relationships have become more frequent in recent years, they remain rare.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Mongolia face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT people, though there have been substantial improvements since the 1990s. Homosexuality was criminalised in Mongolia in 1961 through its Criminal Code. Following the Mongolian Revolution of 1990 and the peaceful transition to a democracy, homosexuality was legalised and awareness about LGBT people has become more prevalent. Hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity result in additional legal penalties. Hate speech based on these two categories has been outlawed in the country since 1 July 2017. Households headed by same-sex couples are, however, not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBTQ rights that took place in the year 2017.
This is a list of notable events in LGBTQ rights that took place in the 2010s.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBTQ rights that took place in the year 2020.
↑ Ginn, H. Lucas (12 October 1995). "Gay Culture Flourished in Pre-Nazi Germany". Update, Southern California's gay and lesbian weekly newspaper. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
↑ Marcus Field (17 September 2008). "The ten best places in the world to be gay". The Independent. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2017. Berlin. It may have taken 75 years, but the German capital once again enjoys the kind of open gay scene that Christopher Isherwood described so evocatively in his 1939 memoir Goodbye to Berlin. Perhaps the painful period of Nazi rule and division makes the city even more attractive to people with alternative lifestyles - you have to be unconventional to want to live here. The magnificently restored 19th-century buildings, the grand boulevards and the famous park and woodlands make the perfect backdrop for queer culture. A former mayor of Berlin is gay, the Kit Kat club still exists, and Europe's first exclusively gay old people's home - the Asta Nielsen Haus - opened in the city this year.
↑ Peck, Jeffrey M.; Lemke, Jürgen (1991). "Being Gay in Germany: An Interview with Jürgen Lemke". New German Critique (52): 144–154. doi:10.2307/488193. JSTOR488193.
↑ Daniel Speier. "Die Frankfurter Homosexuellenprozesse zu Beginn der Ära Adenauer – eine chronologische Darstellung." Mitteilungen der Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft 61/62 (2018): 47–72
↑ Cf. two orders of 2000: German Military Forces (Bundeswehr) (2000). "Anlage B 173 zu ZDv 14/3"(PDF) (in German). Working Group 'Homosexuals in the Bundeswehr'. Archived(PDF) from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.; and Inspector General of the German Military Forces (Bundeswehr) (2000). "Führungshilfe für Vorgesetzte – Sexualität"(PDF) (in German). Working Group 'Homosexuals in the Bundeswehr'. Archived(PDF) from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
1 2 Pohlers, Angie (15 December 2015). "Politik unterm Regenbogen". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
Huneke, Samuel Clowes (2022). States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany. University of Toronto Press. ISBN978-1-4875-4212-2.
Steffens, Melanie C., and Christof Wagner. "Attitudes toward lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men in Germany." Journal of Sex Research 41.2 (2004): 137-149 online.
Storkmann, Klaus (2021). Tabu und Toleranz: Der Umgang mit Homosexualität in der Bundeswehr 1955 bis 2000 (in German). De Gruyter Oldenbourg. ISBN978-3-11-073290-0.
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