German court rules on gay adoption
2013-02-19 17:00
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Berlin - Germany's highest court ruled on Tuesday that
gays in a civil partnership should be allowed to adopt their partners' adopted
children, saying they can bring them up as well as couples in a traditional
marriage.
The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, western Germany,
ruled that an existing law forbidding gays and lesbians from adopting their
partners' already adopted children went against the country's basic law or
constitution.
Gay couples are still forbidden from adopting children in
Germany.
"The protective relationship of a civil partnership
can foster the upbringing of children just as well as in a marriage," the
judges said in their ruling.
The German Family Association (DFV) had argued that a
child could be harmed by being brought up by same-sex partners.
But expert studies commissioned by the court determined
that adoption "creates a stabilising psychological effect" for the
children concerned.
The court was ruling on two specific cases.
A lesbian woman had adopted a Bulgarian-born child and
her partner, who was involved in the daily upbringing of the child, was
forbidden from formally adopting it.
In another case, a gay man had been prevented from
adopting his partner's Romanian-born adopted child.
The German Gays and Lesbians Association (LSVD) welcomed
the ruling and called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to end what it called a
"policy of discrimination against life partners”.
"After five rulings against discrimination of life
partners, even the most ardent hardliner must realise that such a policy is
illegal," said LSVD spokesperson Renate Rampf.
Germany introduced registered partnerships of same-sex
couples in 2001 granting them similar rights to those of married couples, apart
from in tax matters and adoption.
