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Today the Bundestag (our parliament) voted on a draft to change the law and make same sex marriage legal. The whole thing was rushed through parliament remarably quickly. It took less than a week! Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview that her view on marriage equality changed and that to her it had become a matter of conscience rather than a political agenda. Her party though, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and their partner, the CSU (Christian Social Union) are, as the name implies, our two conservative party poopers (they are like the GOP but so watered down that they are pretty tolerable). They are the ones who have been blocking drafts to legalize same sex marriage for years. However, after that interview the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) immediately demanded that Merkel actually follows what she said, open the Bundestag for debate on the matter and actually make it a "matter of conscience". Declaring a matter to be a "matter of conscience" is actually pretty significant in our political system. It frees the representatives inside the Bundestag from the responsibility to vote in favor of what their party stands for. So a member of the CDU would otherwise have to vote against marriage equality but because it was declared to be a matter of conscience 75 CDU members voted in favor of it. The vote was a little too tight for my liking. 623 votes were counted. 393 voted in favor of the new law, 226 voted against it, 4 chose not to vote. It's a clear majority in favor of marriage equality but still, 226 of our elected representatives chose to vote against something that roughly 70% of our population are in favor of... That is kind of sickening. Especially because these votes came from a christian party and you know what I think about religion in politics...... Either way, the christian conservatives are outraged. The SPD is their coalition partner (it's like the American Democrats and the Republicans forming a coalition but it kind of worked out...) so the CDU and CSU feel completely betrayed by them. They are actually checking if they want to bring the matter to the Federal Constitutional Court. Their reason is that our constitution needs to be changed, otherwise the the new law can't go into effect. No change to the constitution, no marriage equality. That is their reasoning. HOWEVER! And this is where all this gets very, very interesting. This is article 6 of our constitution, it protects marriage, children and families: "Article 6 [Marriage – Family – Children] (1) Marriage and the family shall enjoy the special protection of the state. (2) The care and upbringing of children is the natural right of parents and a duty primarily incumbent upon them. The state shall watch over them in the performance of this duty. (3) Children may be separated from their families against the will of their parents or guardians only pursuant to a law, and only if the parents or guardians fail in their duties or the children are otherwise in danger of serious neglect. (4) Every mother shall be entitled to the protection and care of the community. (5) Children born outside of marriage shall be provided by legislation with the same opportunities for physical and mental development and for their position in society as are enjoyed by those born within marriage." Please, do tell me where it says that marriage is defined as the bond between man and woman. What they are referring to is actually a decision by our Federal Constitutional Court. They just interpreted article 6 to be about man and woman because "that's how things were back then and that is probably how the lawmakers decided it to be back then". So right now four things can happen: 1. Our president signs the new law in a few weeks, then after a period of three months for the communes to prepare the first gay couples can get married. The first same sex marriages will then probably happen around November. 2. Our president refuses to sign the new law. 3. He signs it but the Federal Constitutional Court shoots it down and demands a change to the constitution which will take MONTHS and will happen after the next election which brings the majority for it in danger. 4. He signs it, the Federal Constitutional Court won't shoot it down and the conservatives will be even more pissed. Anyway! Very exciting day today. If you actually want to see the draft for the new law, it's available here: http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/18/066/1806665.pdf