German lawmakers voted by a wide margin to legalize same-sex marriage 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.
The votes pass by 393 votes to 226, with four abstentions.
Speaking after the votes, Merkel said she had voted no on the issue, but that it had been important to put the question to a vote of conscience.
” For me and the basic law , its about the marriage of a woman and a man. That’s why i voted against it,” she said.
