Tag Archives: Germany

GERMANY: 68% Back Same-Sex Marriage

In a YouGov poll issued today, more than two-thirds of German voters and a majority of those belonging to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party say they support same-sex marriage. Via Germany’s edition of The Local: With 68 percent in favour, support has grown by around 3 percent on this issue since YouGov last conducted the poll less than 12 months ago. …

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GERMANY: 700 Evangelical Churches Vote To Conduct Marriage Ceremonies For Same-Sex Couples

Wow! Via Gay Star News: A group of Evangelicals controlling 719 parishes in Germany have said they will start marrying gay and lesbian couples. The Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, Germany’s second-biggest territorial church, voted on the decision during their synod today (15 January). It is also the second territorial church area out of 20 to open marriage ceremonies to …

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REPORT: Over 200 Boys Were Abused At German Catholic School Run By Brother Of Pope Benedict

The Guardian reports: At least 231 children at a famous boys’ choir school in Germany were victims of physical abuse, according to a lawyer tasked by the Catholic institution with investigating allegations, giving a far higher figure than thought for the scandal, which dates back decades. The Regensburger Domspatzen, a 1,000-year-old choir in Regensburg, Bavaria, was dragged into the massive …

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TIME’s Person Of The Year: Angela Merkel

TIME Magazine this morning named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the 2015 Person Of The Year. They write: The year 2015 marked the start of Merkel’s 10th year as Chancellor of a united Germany and the de facto leader of the European Union, the most prosperous joint venture on the planet. By year’s end, she had steered the enterprise through …

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GERMANY: Parliament Votes To Support ISIS Fight

The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of supporting the fight against ISIS. TIME reports: Members of Germany’s Parliament approved Chancellor Angela Merkel’s plan to send forces to Syria in support of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Friday. Germany will deploy 1,200 troops as part of the one-year mission, which is projected to …

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REPORT: German Soccer Stadium Evacuated After Explosives-Filled Ambulance Found Outside
UPDATE: Report Judged False Regarding Ambulance

UPDATE: The earlier report has been determined to be partially false and the New York Daily News has amended their initial report excerpted below. The New York Daily News reports: Police found an ambulance filled with explosives outside a canceled soccer match in Hanover, Germany, immediately invoking fears of another terror attack like last week’s massacre in Paris, according to …

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State Department Invites Evan Wolfson To Help Marriage Battle In Three European Nations

Freedom To Marry may have already held its “going out of business” party, but founder Evan Wolfson still has marriage battles to fight. Via the Guardian: US embassies in Europe have invited an instrumental figure in the movement to legalize same-sex marriage to visit three countries where it is not yet legal. Evan Wolfson, founder of marriage equality campaign group …

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GERMANY: Bundesrat Approves Same-Sex Marriage Bill

Germany’s Bundesrat today approved a same-sex marriage bill. The Bundesrat is comprised of representatives from Germany’s 16 states. The German federal council (Bundesrat) on Friday approved a bill recognising same-sex marriage by a majority of votes from representatives of the country’s major political parties. The bill, which includes reforms to German civil law, was submitted by the governments of four …

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GERMANY: Far-Right Party Calls For Russian-Style Gay “Propaganda” Ban

Gay Star News reports: A German right-wing party has demanded for LGBTI “propaganda” to be banned. The national conservative Alternative für Deutschland’s (Alternative for Germany, AfD) Baden-Wuerttemberg faction unanimously decided on a “gender motion” during their faction conference last weekend. “The Alternative for Germany strictly rejects any and all governmental propaganda – in schools, mass media or the public space …

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GERMANY: Upper Parliament Chamber Approves Resolution Backing Gay Marriage

Via the Associated Press: The German Parliament’s upper house is calling on the government to embrace full-fledged marriage for gay couples, an attempt to step up pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party. The upper house represents Germany’s 16 state governments and has a left-wing majority — unlike the lower house. The resolution approved Friday doesn’t force the government to …

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Adidas Celebrates Pride Month

Memo to Brian Brown: Germany-based Adidas Group is the second-largest sportswear manufacturer in the world with annual sales over $15 billion. Other brands under the Adidas Group umbrella are Reebok, Rockport, TaylorMade, and Stella McCartney. New Avenues For Youth is a DC-based group working to end youth homelessness.

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GERMANY: Chancellor Angela Merkel Spokesman Says Same-Sex Marriage Is “Not A Goal Of This Government”

Via Reuters: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition agreed on Wednesday to make small changes to same-sex civil partnership rules but staunch opposition from conservatives in her party means Germany will not follow Ireland in allowing gay marriages any time soon. Although there are growing divisions within the party, Merkel’s Christian Democrats are still overwhelmingly opposed to same-sex marriages partly due to …

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Headline Of The Day

Details. (Tipped by JMG reader TJ) UPDATE: Vice has posted a not work-safe clip.

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You Knew This Was Coming

British and German tabloids are claiming that the Germanwings pilot was “tormented” about being gay. From Britain’s Daily Star, which has more than twice the circulation of the Guardian: Lubitz’ relationship with his girlfriend is said to have broken down and it has been claimed that he was secretly homosexual. He was even taunted by pilot pals for previously being …

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Headline Of The Day

Via the London Standard: The co-pilot who deliberately crashed a plane into a mountainside in the French Alps was suffering from depression and ‘a personal life crisis,’ according to reports. Andreas Lubitz, 28, had deliberately put the Germanwings airliner into a descent after the captain left the cockpit, French prosecutors said after analysing evidence from the recovered cockpit voice recorder. …

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FRANCE: Prosecutor Says Airliner Was Crashed Deliberately By Co-Pilot

Via ABC News: A Marseille prosecutor says the co-pilot of the Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps appeared to have crashed the plane deliberately. Prosecutor Brice Robin said the action of manipulating “what is called the flight monitoring system in order to embark on the descent of the plane”, could “only be deliberate”. “I repeat, when he was …

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German Jetliner Crashes In Southern France, All 148 Aboard Feared Dead

Via the New York Times: A German plane carrying at least 142 passengers and six crew members to Düsseldorf from Barcelona crashed on Tuesday in southern France, the French civil aviation authority confirmed. The wreckage of the aircraft, an Airbus A320 operated by Germanwings, a budget subsidiary of Lufthansa, was located by a French military helicopter near the town of …

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BERLIN: Court Fines Family For Trying To Force 15 Year-Old Gay Boy Into Marriage

Via the Associated Press: A Berlin court has fined three Lebanese men on allegations they seized a 15-year-old relative against his will in what he says was an attempt to force him into marriage because he’s gay. State Court spokesman Tobias Kaehne said Thursday the boy’s father and two uncles were each fined 1,350 euros ($1,430), or 90 days in …

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Drama At Germany’s Eurovision Contest

The BBC reports: The winner of the search to find Germany’s Eurovision Song Contest entrant turned down the chance to represent his country on live TV. Andreas Kummert initially thanked the public for selecting his song Heart Of Stone as Germany’s entry. But, shortly afterwards, he took the microphone from presenter Barbara Schoneberger and said: “I’m really not in the …

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On Germany’s Penis Enlargement Industry

Clip recap: Germany seems to be the penis enlargement capital of the world with about 20% of all enlargement surgeries occurring there. Many men are lured into surgery by the promise of a better sex life, but is the procedure to good to be true? We spoke to a former patient who said that while the surgery increased his size …

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