Gesas & Verena's struggle to be a mom
"My wife is not a stepmother!"
© Julian Stratenschulte / Agency / DPA
Homosexual marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017. But two mothers – that's not possible under the law. Gesa Teichert-Akkermann and Verena Akkermann want to counter this and are suing in court with the aim of reforming the law of parentage.
In a small town near Hildesheim, the married couple Gesa and Verena and their little daughter Paula lead an (almost) normal life. But the family does not feel free and unconditionally accepted in their seemingly carefree life.
They see a loophole in the law of marriage for all – as a lesbian couple, they are not granted mutual motherhood. And that even though more than 90 percent of all children in rainbow families live with two mothers.
As a so-called co-mother, Verena must adopt the child as a stepchild. This procedure differs from the regulation for heterosexual couples, whereby the husband is automatically entered as the father even if he is not even the biological father.
"My wife is not a stepmother"
"My wife is not a stepmother. We have been together for more than twenty years, we decided together for the child, we heard the first heartbeat together." – This is what Gesa expressed as the birth mother of Paula to the Tagesspiegel.
This makes women feel immensely attacked. The state is clearly signaling that it does not unconditionally accept this type of family constellation. According to Gesa Teichert-Akkermann, this is "blatant discrimination and devaluation". At the time, it was a political decision for Gesa to refuse stepchild adoption and to fight for her rights.
Gesa and Verena get a lot of encouragement
The mothers get support from their circle of friends and acquaintances, in the village and at work people are outraged. The Society for Freedom Rights also supports the couple and emphasizes that discrimination against same-sex mothers is primarily a burden for the children. Before the law, Paula only had Gesa as a mother. As a second mother, Verena has no entitlement to maintenance, care or inheritance.
More and more people think: The law needs to be changed. On Instagram there is a movement called "nodoption" that fights for recognized parenthood in rainbow families.
Should the motherhood of Verena Akkermann not be recognized by the OLG Celle in the upcoming process, the couple will consider a constitutional complaint. They always have outside support.