German lawmakers vote to legalize same-sex marriage
30.06.2017 - 11:42
It passed by 393 votes to 226, with four abstentions German lawmakers voted by a wide margin to legalize same-sex marriage Friday, a landmark decision which came just days after Chancellor Angela Merkel dropped her longstanding opposition to a free vote on the issue.
The bill gives homosexual couples in Germany the same rights as heterosexual couples, and will allow same-sex couples to marry and jointly adopt children. It passed by 393 votes to 226, with four abstentions.
The bill is likely to pass through the Bundesrat -- Germany's upper house -- next week. The Bundesrat has previously approved legalizing same-sex marriage.
Once it has been officially signed into law, Germany will enter the club of more than 20 countries where same-sex marriage is legal.
Two-thirds of Germans said they were in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in a recent YouGov poll.
