Equality: In future, lesbian couples should both be mothers

Until now, women in a lesbian relationship had to adopt their partner's child in order to be recognized as a mother. A new law is now supposed to change that – and thus further promote the equality of homosexual couples.

It was barely three years ago that marriage was opened to homosexual couples in Germany. Only on October 1, 2017, the relevant law came into force, which allows gay and lesbian couples to marry. Even if that was a decisive and important step on the way to equal rights for same-sex relationships – it has not yet brought us to our goal. Marriage for all was just one of several steps we must take together towards a more just society. A new draft law by the Federal Ministry of Justice gives hope that another is pending.

Reform on equality for lesbian mothers

The draft deals with the regulation of motherhood, which in its current version disadvantages one of the mothers of a child in a homosexual relationship: In a lesbian partnership, the law currently only restricts the birth mother, i.e. H. the woman who carried the baby and gave birth is recognized as the mother. Your partner has to submit an extra application for adoption in order to be legally registered as a mother. The new reform aims to change that.

In addition to paragraph 1 in the German Civil Code, which says “The mother of a child is the woman who gave birth”, the following text should be added according to reports from the dpa and other media: “Mother of a child is next to the mother according to paragraph 1 also includes the woman who is married to the mother in accordance with paragraph one at the time of birth or who has recognized motherhood. " An adoption process, which, according to Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) "is rightly perceived as discriminatory by lesbian couples", would no longer have to be carried out with the new law.

According to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", another aim of the reform is to make it more difficult for producers to assert claims and demand "father rights". In addition, the draft expressly stipulates that a child can only have two parents.

It is still unclear whether and when the change will come into effect. First, the draft should be voted on in the government, according to "Spiegel".

Sources used: Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung, dpa