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LequteMan
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Europe- Germany's top court on Friday ruled against giving gay couples the right to adopt children, saying the request, from a Berlin district court to rule on whether gays living in a registered civil partnership could adopt children, did not meet the formal requirements of the court.
The decision follows a landmark ruling by the court last year, in which it granted those living in civil partnerships the same legal rights as married couples when it comes to adopting the biological children of one of the partners.
Until now, the court has helped to spearhead the drive to bolster the rights of gay couples in the country, with the court also ruling in 2013 that they should enjoy the same tax breaks as their heterosexual counterparts.
This has forced Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative-Christian Democrats to lay aside its opposition to bringing same-sex partnerships into line with heterosexual relationships by introducing legislation into parliament to back up the court's decisions.
The judges called on the government to amend laws dating back to August 2001, which was when civil partnerships were introduced in the country.
The decision follows a landmark ruling by the court last year, in which it granted those living in civil partnerships the same legal rights as married couples when it comes to adopting the biological children of one of the partners.
Until now, the court has helped to spearhead the drive to bolster the rights of gay couples in the country, with the court also ruling in 2013 that they should enjoy the same tax breaks as their heterosexual counterparts.
This has forced Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative-Christian Democrats to lay aside its opposition to bringing same-sex partnerships into line with heterosexual relationships by introducing legislation into parliament to back up the court's decisions.
The judges called on the government to amend laws dating back to August 2001, which was when civil partnerships were introduced in the country.
