‘For me, personally, marriage is a man and a woman living together. That is my concept, but I support civil partnerships.'
German chancellor Angela Merkel has said while same-sex couples should get marital benefits, a civil partnership should not be called marriage.
Merkel said she didn’t oppose gay marriage, but would want it to be called something else.
The head of state answered questions from the online community in an interview with German Youtube star Florian Mundt, alias LeFloid, as part of the ‘Gut Leben’ (good living) campaign.
‘I’m someone who is very supportive of us eliminating all discrimination,’ Merkel said when asked for her personal stance on marriage equality.
‘We have come a long way; when I remember, 25 years ago, many people didn’t dare to say that they are gay or lesbian. Luckily we overcame this; you can enter a partnership, a civil partnership.’
In June, members of Merkel’s Christian Democratic party sent an open letter claiming marriage equality would see the institution of marriage lost.
‘For me, personally, marriage is a man and a woman living together. That is my concept, but I support civil partnerships,’ she continued.
‘I support us not discriminating against them when it comes to taxes, and to remove any other discrimination wherever we may find it.’
Mundt accused Merkel of quibbling and wanting to keep marriage between same-sex and traditional couples separate, although it would be the same on paper.
‘For me, there is still a difference. It’s not the same, but they [same-sex couples] want the same. Everything else is an exclusion for me,’ he said.
The chancellor claimed people had to accept different opinions on the matter – including herself, as the opinions in her party as well as in the German government differ, but ‘you’ll have to endure that for a while.’
‘I don’t want discrimination and [I want] equality, but I make a difference at some point,’ Merkel explained.
Her interviewer countered quickly: ‘So you could say: no to discrimination, but we’ll keep differentiating between the two.’
‘No discrimination,’ Merkel answered.
‘Marriage as a man and a woman living together.’
The euro ‘family’ has shown it is capable of real cruelty
The seemingly indestructible Angela Merkel can go without sleep, and still manage a half smile and speak about Greece’s wish to remain in “the euro family”. This may sound reasonable and pleasant. All families have their little local difficulties, don’t they? But they work through them. People see reason. When they are forced to.
By infantilising Greece, Germany resembles a child who closes its own eyes and thinks we can not see it. We can. The world is watching what is being done to Greece in the name of euro stability.
It sees a nation stripped of its dignity, its sovereignty, its future.
What kind of family, we might ask, does this to one of its own members? EvenDer Spiegel online described the conditions that have been outlined as “a catalogue of cruelties”, but perhaps we should now put it another way, given Jean-Claude Juncker has denied that the Greek people have been humiliated. Juncker instead says that this deal is a typical “European” compromise. Yes, we see.
The machinations of financial institutions (the troika) have been exposed as much as the institutions themselves. Who runs these banks, and for whom?Twitter slogans talk of the three world wars: the first waged with guns, the second with tanks and this third world war waged by banks. Extreme? Well, there clearly is more than one way to take over a country.
The eurozone and Gemany want regime change in Greece, or at least to split Syriza. Alexis Tsipras has fought tooth and nail for something resembling the debt restructuring that even the International Monetary Fund acknowledges is needed. The incompetence of a succession of Greek governments and tax evasion within Greece is not in doubt. But the creditors of the euro family knew this as they upped their loans, and must now delude themselves that everything they have done has been for the best. It hasn’t, and now that same family will go in and asset-strip in broad daylight a country that can no longer afford basic medicines. In three days Greece is supposed to push through heaps of legislation on privatisation, tax and pensions so it can be even poorer.
There is to be no debt forgiveness in this family. Tsipras has to sell this to his people so the banks can reopen. His endurance has been remarkable, and more will be needed. The unsustainability of Greek debt, even if the country could achieve growth, remains. The words trust and confidence keep being used but by the wrong people. Trust is gone in this European project. François Hollande, ever the pseudo–mediator, may rattle on about the history and culture of Greece. Its value has actually been shown. Its value is purely symbolic. It is worth nothing.
The euro family has been exposed as a loan-sharking conglomerate that cares nothing for democracy. This family is abusive. This “bailout”, which will be sold as being a cruel-to-be-kind deal is nothing of the sort. It is simply being cruel to be cruel.
Dimitris Tzamis
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I have said many times that if I were a German gay, I would not vote for Angela Merkel, as I do not vote for New Democracy. After this Draconian aGreekment, it seems that by all means Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Schauble dislike human happiness. It is so remote from all that evolution we see in the Western World, the USA, the UK and France, (I would sincerely be offended if I were a German gay) and many other European Countries. It is very sad, it's simply freedom, solidarity and equality, that's all.
German lgbt people, respect yourselves and do not vote for Angela Merkel and CDU.
Today, the 14th of July, is the day of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite, isn't it?