How "marriage for all" became reality in a single summer week
One sentence from the Chancellor, a race against the clock: how Germany passed "marriage for all" in just one week in 2017.
On 7 July 2017, the German Bundesrat gave the green light to opening marriage to same-sex couples. This ended a struggle lasting decades, and a political thriller that came to a head within a few days.
For a long time the CDU/CSU had blocked the issue. Since 2001, gay and lesbian couples had only been able to enter into a registered civil partnership, which in law was always treated as something second-rate. But in June 2017 the deadlock suddenly began to shift: at a panel discussion, Chancellor Angela Merkel surprisingly moved away from her blockade and suggested making the question a matter of conscience. What had been intended as a vague hint was immediately taken at her word by the SPD, the Greens, the Left and the FDP.
A race against time followed, shortly before the summer recess and the upcoming general election. On 30 June the bill, which had originally come from an initiative of the Bundesrat, made it onto the Bundestag's agenda. After an emotional debate, with the party whip lifted, 393 of 623 MPs voted to open marriage. Dozens of CDU/CSU politicians also voted yes, while Merkel herself voted against.
A week later the Bundesrat sealed the law. "For gay men and lesbians it is a milestone of equality," declared the President of the Bundesrat, Malu Dreyer, during the session. The state was finally recognising that the responsibility these couples take for each other is not second-class. From then on, the Civil Code simply stated: marriage is entered into by two persons of different or the same sex.
The law came into force on 1 October 2017. On the very first day, couples said "I do" who had in some cases waited decades for this moment.