Same-sex Marriage
The CDU/CSU, the senior member party of Germany's coalition Government is opposed to the legalisation of same-sex marriage. The Green Party, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and The Left support of the legalization of same-sex marriage.
The Greens, in opposition, released a draft law on same-sex marriage in June 2009. In March 2010, the Senate of Berlin announced its intention to introduce a same-sex marriage bill in the Bundesrat, the federal representation of the German states. According to the Senate, this law would best fit the Constitutional Court's ruling that same-sex couples must be equally treated as heterosexual ones. The Bundesrat rejected the law in September 2010. Only Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen and North Rhine-Westphalia voted in favour of the marriage equality bill. The other 12 Länder didn't vote in favour of the bill.
In June 2011, the Senate of Hamburg, following CDU losses in state elections around the country, also announced its intention to introduce a same-sex marriage bill in the Bundesrat, the federal representation of the German states.
On 28 June 2012, a Green Party motion in the Federal Diet of Germany to legalize same-sex marriage was defeated by a vote of 309 to 260, with 12 abstentions. The motion was meant to give parity to same-sex couples in adoption and for tax purposes. Members of the ruling coalition of Union parties and Free Democratic Party voted against the proposal while opposition parties Social Democratic Party, Greens, and The Left supported it.
Read more about this topic: Recognition Of Same-sex Unions In Germany
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“After the first couple of months, she and Charlie didn’t see much of each other except at breakfast. It was a marriage just like any other marriage.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1985)