Germany's first same-sex 'I do''s as marriage equality dawns
BERLIN (Reuters) - Same-sex couples will marry in Germany for the first time on Sunday, when some civil registry offices will open specially to celebrate the coming into force of a marriage law that parliament passed in June.
Around a dozen same-sex couples are expected to marry in Berlin on Sunday, with a similar number due in Hamburg, gay rights organizations said, taking advantage of the decision of some registries to open on a day when they are normally closed.
Among them are Karl Kreile, 59, and Bodo Mende, 60, who will at 9.30 local time (0730 GMT) become Germany’s first married gay couple when they say “yes” in the town hall of the Berlin borough of Schoeneberg after 38 years together.
“We have finally achieved legal equality,” Mende told a news conference on Friday. “It’s been 25 years’ of hard struggle to secure this.”
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-equalmarriage/germanys-first-same-sex-i-dos-as-marriage-equality-dawns-idUSKCN1C50TE
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Karl Kreile, left, and Bodo Mende kiss after their marriage in Berlin, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. The couple has become the first in Germany to celebrate a same-sex wedding, after a new law called “marriage for all” came into force Sunday. Karl Kreile, 59, and Bodo Mende, 60, were married Sunday morning at the town hall in Schoeneberg, a Berlin district. The law change followed a free vote in Parliament in June, making Germany the 23rd country worldwide to allow same-sex marriages. (Britta Pedersen/dpa via AP)
