For LGBTQI * couples, there are still major formal hurdles in parenting. Christina Klitzsch-Eulenburg from the “Nodoption” initiative would like to change that
Christina Klitzsch-Eulenburg lives in Berlin with her wife and child. She works as a lawyer in a non-profit association.
In May 2020 my wife gave birth to our son. I didn’t want to adopt him to be legally considered a parent. After all, it is not a strange child for me, but our common son.
I worked as a lawyer myself for a long time and was looking for a law firm that already had experience with the subject. After I found lawyer Lucy Chebout, I looked for even more different family constellations who also wanted to take legal action in order to generate more publicity and to support strategic litigation.
This is how the #Nodoption initiative came about. I now have 110 addresses of those affected in my mailing list. In August we filed the first judicial motions, and two higher courts have already ruled that in certain cases it is unconstitutional for a parent to have to adopt the child in order to be recognized. We want to ensure that parenthood is legally valid from birth in as many LGBTQI + constellations as possible, so that children from these families in particular are fully covered from the start.
Regardless of gender, what already applies to people with the entry “male” must apply: the right to fill the second parenting position from birth. There are even people who are biologically the “father” but have to adopt their own child because they have no gender entry. I would also be in favor of legal parenting for more than two people. Parenthood does not have to mean having a child biologically. It can also arise from the decision to have a child together.
Our demands affect a great many people, not just homosexuals. But it is also about securing children’s rights for society as a whole, and these should be important to the state if it doesn’t want to do us parents a favor. All parties are open to our concerns – except for the AfD and CDU. None of them have remedied this unconstitutional situation, and that is really a scandal.
Many people believe that we have long had equality. But I can’t just walk hand in hand with my wife, not even in the cool corners of Berlin, without attracting attention. Although I have never committed a crime and I contribute more than average to society, I do not have the same rights and my family does not have the same protection as others. That makes me angry.
My most important “Merkel moment” was when the Chancellor opened the way to marriage for everyone in 2017. Then there would also be the nuclear phase-out. It looked a little broken over the knee, but it was an outstanding decision. However, much more should have been decided on in climate policy long ago.
Recorded by Stephan Hebel
