August 1st 2001

In world news a new law was passed in Germany today that has legalized a certain form of homosexual marriage. For the last two years informal gay partnerships have been allowed in Hamburg. This marriage gives inheritance and tenants rights to homosexuals that heterosexuals currently have. It also gives a foreigner marrying a German citizenship. Homosexual married couples do not however receive the same tax and welfare benefits that heterosexual couples receive. Three German states, Bavaria, Saxony and Thueringen, have challenged the law as unconstitutional. However previous rulings by a constitutional court stated the law must be instated.