Helmut Graupner

{{short description|Austrian lawyer and LGBT rights activist}}

File:Helmut Graupner-2006-10-02.jpg

Helmut Graupner is a lawyer in Vienna, considered a leading advocate in LGBT European rights. He has been president of the Rechtskomitee Lambda since its foundation in 1991.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rklambda.at/|title=Rechtskomitee Lambda - Herzlich Willkommen!|website=www.rklambda.at}}

From 2005, he has been the Austrian representative on the European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL).{{Cite web|url=https://www.sexualorientationlaw.eu/|title=European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law | News|website=www.sexualorientationlaw.eu}}

In 2016, Graupner was awarded the Decoration of Merit, the highest honor awarded by the state of Vienna.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ggg.at/2016/11/14/wiener-verdienstzeichen-fuer-helmut-graupner-und-andreas-brunner/|title=Wiener Verdienstzeichen für Helmut Graupner und Andreas Brunner|first=Herwig Hakan|last=Mader|date=November 14, 2016}}

In 2017, Graupner pursued a case for the rights of five same-sex families that resulted in Austria's highest court ruling that banning same-sex couples from marriage was discriminatory.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/world/europe/austria-gay-marriage.html|title=Austria Allows Gay Marriage in Court Ruling|first=Melissa|last=Eddy|newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 5, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/12/05/austrias-supreme-court-legalises-same-sex-marriage/|title=Austria's supreme court legalises same-sex marriage - PinkNews · PinkNews|website=www.pinknews.co.uk|date=5 December 2017 }} The first same-sex marriage in Austria was for Graupner's clients in December 2018, with same-sex marriage available to the general public at the start of 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/05/europe/austria-same-sex-marriage-ruling/index.html|title=Austrian court rules same-sex couples can marry from 2019|first=Nadine Schmidt and Hilary|last=Clarke|website=CNN}}{{Cite web|url=https://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/5511964/Erste-Ehe-eines-gleichgeschlechtlichen-Paares-in-Oesterreich|title=Erste Ehe eines gleichgeschlechtlichen Paares in Österreich|date=October 12, 2018|website=Die Presse}}