Andreas (61) and Udo (71) have shared their allotment garden in Hanover for more than two decades, building a life together as a gay couple in a society shaped by heteronormative expectations. They met by chance in 1995, and while Andreas found early support in a local youth group, Udo grew up in the GDR before moving west to live more openly; in 2014 they registered a civil partnership and in 2017 they officially married.