Serve yes, lead no

On 25 October 1979, the First Military Service Senate of the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the complaint of a soldier whose homosexuality had become known while he was serving. The reasoning was brief, but its effect lasted for decades: merely knowing about a superior's "homosexual inclination" could lastingly impair the functioning of the service. The specific circumstances were irrelevant.

Yet that same year the Bundeswehr had seemed to be opening up. It abandoned the practice of rejecting gay men as unfit for service as a matter of principle. They could now serve, but leadership responsibility remained closed to them. The Ministry of Defence saw the ruling as confirming its existing position. If an officer's or NCO's homosexuality became known, he faced being transferred from his unit to a staff post. Even outstanding appraisals offered no protection.

For those affected, this meant having to hide an essential part of their lives. Historian Klaus Storkmann interviewed more than sixty witnesses when he investigated the history of this discrimination on behalf of the ministry. One of them was a company commander with excellent career prospects. In 1981 he was relieved of his command, suspended from duty and banned from the barracks. His partner, who had been conscripted only shortly before, attempted suicide after the punitive transfer. He barely survived.

For decades, attempts to overturn this practice in the courts failed. It was not until 1999 that a constitutional complaint reached Karlsruhe, brought by a first lieutenant who had lost his post as a platoon leader. To pre-empt a ruling, the ministry settled with him out of court. In the summer of 2000 it ended the discrimination by decree. Another twenty-one years passed before those affected were rehabilitated and could receive compensation.