In Germany, two ministers announced their desire to enter into a same-sex marriage

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister for Family Affairs, Josephine Paul, and Saxony’s Minister of Justice, Katja Meier, will become the first gay ministerial couple in Germany. The politicians are members of the Union of the 90s/Greens party. The marriage must take place after parliamentary elections in the state of Saxony.

Paul said in an interview with Bunte magazine that this is “not about a political gesture, but about love and a mutual desire to prove this feeling through marriage.” She noted that young gays and lesbians face problems at home and bullying at school, which means they “need support and reassurance that their love is absolutely normal.” Mayer explained in an interview that “homosexuality should be visible, including on the street.” The minister said that although the majority of the German population supports same-sex relationships, she still receives “horrible postcards and letters with gross insults below the belt.”

According to Paul and Mayer, they have been in a “long-distance relationship between Western and Eastern Germany” for a long time, but their love has not weakened. Every morning they drink coffee together via FaceTime, and in the evening they always talk on the phone.

Mayer and Paul have always advocated for the adoption of same-sex marriage legislation. “I love not a gender, but a person,” Mayer admitted in an interview with the publication. The ministers first spoke about their relationship in an interview with the Zeit newspaper in 2021.

The same-sex marriage law came into force in Germany on October 1, 2017. Earlier, the chairman of the Alternative for Germany party, Alice Weidel, entered into a same-sex marriage. The couple has two children, who were born to her wife Sarah Bossard, a producer from Switzerland.