Vater and Vater: Gay Adoption Debate Flusters Conservatives {germany}

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/gay-adoption-debate-flusters-german-conservatives-a-904875.html



Considering the years of contentious debate on the topic, German conservatives were surprisingly acquiescent last Thursday when the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in favor of tax equality to same-sex couples. In the end, even deeply conservative Bavarian lawmaker Norbert Geis, who until recently had accused the court of being "on the wrong track" with its rulings on the rights of gay and lesbian couples, got on board.

The day after the ruling, Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) -- known together simply as the Union -- met at a swiftly convened special session, where Geis left no doubt that the decision had to be implemented, like it or not. A significant debate failed to materialize.

Because the conservatives want to keep the issue of gay rights, which is controversial within its ranks, out of the upcoming federal election campaign, they are now quickly implementing the equal tax treatment required by the high court. But their hope that this will put an end to the debate is probably in vain. The next decision on equal rights is already on the agenda at the high court, located in Karlsruhe. This time it will revolve around what many conservatives consider an untouchable last bastion: full adoption rights for same-sex couples.

Two cases on joint adoption are currently pending in Karlsruhe. A district court in Berlin's Schöneberg neighborhood submitted them to the high court judges in early March. They revolve around the adoption of two foster children by a couple in a registered domestic partnership. It is probably only a matter of time before the judges will force politicians to take action once again.