In the early hours of Friday morning stateside — but just before noon in Berlin — the German parliament (Bundestag) legalized same-sex marriage.
The center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) joined the Green Party, Free Democratic Party and Left Party in adding a plank in their election platform requiring same-sex marriage legalization as a prerequisite to any potential coalition partners, a shot across the bow to Angela Merkel’s governing Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU).
In response, Merkel suddenly announced that she would allow a “free vote” on same-sex marriage at the end of the last week. Her party, the CDU/CSU governs in a coalition with the SPD, and election polling indicates that the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition will likely be the only viable one after October’s election.
The vote was held after only forty minutes of debate just before the Bundestag recessed for the summer.
Every MP in the SPD, Green and Left Party voted in favor, and at least 73 members of the CDU/CSU voted in favor, with the only no votes coming from the CDU/CSU.
Merkel explained her vote after the session:
“For me, marriage in the basic law is the marriage of husband and wife. That's why I voted NO today."
She later stated that she now supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
With elections in October, this gives the German opposition one less arrow in the quiver to use against Merkel. Over 83% of the German population supports same-sex marriage, and the three smaller parties, and over 66% of CDU/CSU supporters also supported same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage legislation had been stopped by Merkel’s party repeatedly in the past.
Marriages will begin in the early autumn.