West Germany inherited Paragraph 175, which remained on the books until 1969. However, as opposed to East Germany, the churches' influence in West Germany was very strong. Fundamentalist Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church were staunchly opposed to LGBT rights legislation.Whisnant, Clayton. Male Homosexuality in West Germany: Between Persecution and Freedom, 1945–69. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2013
