Gay marriage challenge dropped by conservative German state due to “no chance of winning”
The Bavarian state government dropped their challenge to same-sex marriage due to "little chance of winning"
A conservative-leaning state in Germany has dropped plans to challenge the country’s marriage equality law.
The Bavarian State Government, which is run by the Christian Social Union (CSU), announced Tuesday that it would not try to fight equality laws for same-sex couples that passed last year, after legal counsel suggested they had “little chance of winning.”
According to Queer.De., the Bavarian Minister of Justice Winfried Bausback confirmed the news.
“After an overall assessment, the prospects of a lawsuit before the Federal Constitutional Court are considered to be low,” he said.
While being seen as a step in the right direction for local LGBTQ politicians and activists, many said it is only a surrender out of necessity for the conservative party.
“This decision is unfortunately only the result of a purely legal assessment,” said Isabell Zacharias, spokeswoman for the Social Democratic Party of Germany. “Politicians still have a strong opposition to the equality of homosexual partnerships.”
Local far-right group Alternative for Germany (AfD) opposed the CSU’s climbdown, calling them “Bavarian Lions” that have turned into “whimsical kittens.” The AfD cannot challenge the law themselves as they do not have necessary number of politicians.
German lawmakers voted last June in a 393-266 decision to grant same-sex couples full marital rights and the ability to adopt children, changing the legal code to define marriage as a partnership “for life by two people of different or the same sex.”
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