The move could spur other European countries to follow suit.
The German parliament voted Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, joining many other western European nations and the United States in implementing equal rights.
The move could spur other European countries where same-sex marriage is not recognized to follow suit.
Lawmakers voted 393 for same-sex marriage and 226 against it. There were four abstentions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel voted against the measure. “For me, marriage is marriage between man and woman, ” she said, according to German news agency dpa.
But she paved the way for the vote after saying on Monday that lawmakers could take up the issue as a “question of conscience, ” freeing members of her ruling Christian Democratic Party to vote in favor.
The gay marriage bill, a last-minute addition in parliament’s last session before the summer break, was backed by almost every party in the lower house.
There are several central and eastern European countries – including Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy – where only civil partnerships are open to gay couples, rather than marriage.
Germany currently recognizes civil partnerships for same-sex couples, which guarantees most of the benefits as married heterosexual couples.
Merkel’s Christian Democrats, and their Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU) , have long opposed gay marriage. Their platform centers on “family values, ” and same-sex marriage was a red line for the party’s conservative wing.
Resistance persists despite Merkel’s change of view.
Germany holds national elections in September, and legalizing same-sex marriage could benefit Merkel and those running for parliament. Two-thirds of Germans support marriage for all, according to a YouGov poll in May.
“This gives unity and the right and freedom in Germany now for all those who love each other, ” Merkel’s main political rival Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic Party said Friday reacting to the decision.
Onyanga-Omara reported from London; Davis from Berlin
