Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has revealed she is opposed to gay marriage and believes matrimony should be restricted to just heterosexual couples.The twice-married Christian said that while she believes anti-gay discrimination must be ‘eliminated’, she draws the line at same sex marriage because there has to
be ‘a difference at some point’.
The revelations came during a 30-minute YouTube interview with German social media star Florian Mundt, also known as LeFloid, who pressed Merkel on why she refused to support gay marriage but happily endorsed equal benefits and tax breaks for same-sex couples.
Speaking during the show, Merkel said: ‘I’m someone who is very supportive of us eliminating all discrimination. We have come a long way; when I remember, 25 years ago, many people didn’t dare to say that they are gay or lesbian.
But the German Chancellor went on to say: ‘For me, personally, marriage is a man and a woman living together. That is my concept, but I support civil partnerships… [I want] equality, but I make a difference at some point,’ she added.
‘I am for registered civil partnerships. I am for our not having any discrimination in tax legislation. And wherever we still find discrimination, we will continue to dismantle it,’ she went on to say according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
When Mundt pressed Mekel on how she could possibly say she is opposed to discrimination while refusing to support full equality, the politician refused to buckle, according to the Huffington Post.
‘No discrimination,’ she said, adding: ‘Marriage as a man and a woman living together.’
A spokesman for Stonewall, a UK gay rights charity, responded to the comments, saying: ‘Can someone really support ‘eliminating all discrimination’ if they believe that same-sex unions shouldn’t be labelled as ‘marriages’? It must be a quiet week for Angela if her current concern is synonyms.’
Germany introduced civil unions for gay and lesbian couples in 2001, but they do not have the right to marry and are still also forbidden from jointly adopting children.
In early June the upper house of the German parliament adopted a resolution calling for the legalisation of same-sex marriage, which is opposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.
Last month’s gay pride march in the German capital Berlin was a typically festive affair, with lashings of sequins, fake eyelashes, wigs and feather boas, rainbow flags, and even one reveller who appeared to have dipped his penis in gold paint.
‘A day without lesbians is like a day without sunshine,’ read one placard that seemed especially fitting for the miserable weather.
Merkel is the daughter of a Lutheran minister and has described herself as a committed member of the evangelical Christian church.