Mayor elected on equal rights for gays pledge

Hamburg's gays and lesbians were celebrating yesterday as the city's coalition government of Social Democrats and Greens elected a new mayor on a platform promising equal rights for same-sex couples.

Mr Ortwin Runde (53) of the SPD was elected mayor of the 121-member parliament by 74 votes to 45, with two abstentions, in a ballot in which he was supported by the Greens. The SPD-Greens coalition has 75 seats in the Hamburg parliament.

Much legal discrimination against homosexuals can be ended only by changing federal law. But Hamburg's new government has vowed to do all it can to improve the situation of gay people.

Gay and lesbian couples will be able to apply for council housing together and foreign gay partners will have the same right to stay in Hamburg as foreign spouses. Gay partners will be entitled to visit one another in hospital, even if blood relatives disapprove.

The city will devise a form of official registration for gay couples and will consider giving homosexuals the same adoption rights as heterosexuals.

The plan to end discrimination against gays has met little resistance in Hamburg, where the Christian Democrats are led by Mr Ole von Beust, a young, liberal politician who vetoed suggestions that his party should exploit the issue.

A number of German federal states have anti-discrimination laws but few are as far-reaching as the Hamburg proposals. The centre-right government in Bonn of the Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, has condemned the plan to register gay partnerships as unconstitutional and a threat to the traditional family.

But Hamburg's legislation could become a model for a new government in Bonn next year if Dr Kohl's coalition is replaced by an alliance of Social Democrats and Greens.

The Greens, who have led the drive for equal rights, want to put all partnerships, homosexual and heterosexual, married and unmarried, on an equal footing.

The proposal has a good chance of success, not least because German society seldom becomes exercised about sexual morality.

The Protestant Evangelical Church recently apologised for Christian-led persecution of homosexuals throughout history and many religious organisations offer support to gay people suffering from AIDS.

The greatest impediment in the path of equal rights campaigners could be the caution of Social Democrats who fear being branded as a "homo party".

Gay rights activists hope that the Hamburg model will, if successful, encourage other states to follow suit and reassure critics that tolerance towards minorities need not threaten the lifestyle of the majority.