User:Il lupa/sandbox/Cornelia Scheel

Cornelia Scheel (born 28 March 1963) is a German activist and entrepreneur known for suing the Federal Constitutional Court in 1993 over the legality of same-sex marriage.

Early life
Scheel was born as Cornelia Wirtz in Munich in 1963. Her biological father Robert A. Stemmle was already married so left her mother Mildred Scheel, then Mildred Wirtz, to raise Cornelia by herself. She spent two years in a children's home. In 1969, Walter Scheel married Mildred and adopted Cornelia Scheel.

In the 1980s, Scheel studied medicine at the University of Innsbruck despite a ban on foreigners at Austrian universities.

Career
Scheel became chairwoman of German Cancer Aid in 2017.

Personal life and activism
In 1991, Cornelia Scheel made her relationship with Hella von Sinnen public. They sued the Federal Constitutional Court in 1993 because they were not allowed to get married. It was ruled that sexual diversity was a defining characteristic of marriage but Scheel and von Sinnen continued to campaign for gay marriage. Scheel and von Sinnen were together for 25 years and were considered one of the most prominent lesbian couples in Germany before separating.