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Plaintiffs Gesa Teichert-Akkermann, Verena Akkermann with daughter Paula
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
The Higher Regional Court of Celle (OLG) dealt for the first time with the case of two women who want to be recognized by the state as mothers of their daughter Paula.
Gesa Teichert-Akkermann, who gave birth to daughter Paula in February 2020, and her wife Verena Akkermann had complained.
The registry office had refused the couple to also enter Akkermann in the birth certificate next to the birth mother.
It is disputed whether the regulation on parent-child allocation in the German Civil Code, which refers to husbands according to the wording, can also be applied to wives - or even has to.
Applications by the family from Schellerten in the Hildesheim district had previously been rejected by the Hanover District Court and the Hildesheim District Court.
According to the current legal situation, Verena Akkermann is only open to the sometimes lengthy process of stepchild adoption.
It is about legal equality with heterosexual married couples, said Gesa Teichert-Akkermann of the dpa news agency.
Her wife Verena Akkermann is one of the two mothers, Paula has known her voice since she was pregnant.
From the point of view of women, the current legal situation represents “unconstitutional discrimination”. In the case of heterosexual married couples, the father is automatically entered in the birth certificate, even if the child was created, for example, with the help of sperm donation.
"We're not just fighting for ourselves, but for the rights of all rainbow families," said Teichert-Akkermann after the hearing before the OLG.
Children are losers under the current regime
The 45-year-old and her 48-year-old partner receive support for their concerns from the Society for Freedom Rights.
The current regulation is primarily at the expense of children in queer families, the association said.
(Read more here.)
In the Akkermann family, Paula currently has only one mother and has no entitlement to maintenance, support or inheritance from her second mother.
A power of attorney from the birth mother is required even for a doctor's visit with the daughter.
The problem also arises for couples in which one partner has no gender entry or a divers entry.
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According to a spokesman, the court wants to send its decision in writing in a few weeks.
According to the Federal Ministry of Justice, a comprehensive reform of the law of parentage is in progress.
In some areas, equality, simplification and relief are so urgently needed that they should be regulated in advance, said a ministry spokesman for the dpa.
At the center of this partial reform is the introduction of equal maternal status for two women by virtue of marriage and recognition, said the spokesman.
The Higher Regional Court of Celle is not the first high court to deal with the parenting of a lesbian couple.
In autumn 2018, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe ruled that once marriage was introduced, a female couple could not automatically become parents together.
A reform of the law of parentage is necessary, it said at the time.
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fek / dpa