The First Gay Couple To Marry In Germany Had Been Together 38 Years

Refinery29: Politics
10 hours ago

Karl Kreile, 59, and Bodo Mende, 60, have been a couple for 38 years, many of which they've spent fighting for the right to marry. Mende told Reuters

that this fight was "25 years of hard struggle." Twenty-five years prior, he and Kreile had attempted to get married to raise awareness of the issue. "I remember how it felt when we went to the registry office in Berlin Charlottenburg to request marriage," he said. "The official was nice, and so were the couples before and after us in the line, telling us: 'We understand what you want.' But afterwards I still had to feel a sense of shame. I felt discriminated against, being sent out again."