Germany's longest-serving chancellor, the 83-year old Helmut Kohl, recently attended and legally witnessed a same-sex civil union ceremony for his friend, the lawyer Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner (64). This "homo wedding," as some German press accounts have headlined the affair, draws more high-profile publicity to ongoing German debates over same-sex "marriage," particularly among self-defined conservatives like Kohl. Kohl declared that he "very gladly" and "indeed humanly" witnessed the ceremony between the "good friend" Holthoff-Pförtner and his law partner Klaus Sälzer (54). Holthoff-Pförtner was Kohl's lawyer during a political contributions scandal during the 1990s, since which their friendship developed. A further witness at the ceremony in Upper Bavaria's scenic Teggernsee city hall was Germany's present foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, accompanied by Michael Mronz, with whom Westerwelle likewise shares a same-sex civil union. This private affair has become a "small...(Read Full Post)