Merkel changes stance on same sex marriages
Berlin, June 27: Germany is set to legalise same-sex marriage as early as this week, it emerged Tuesday, after an election-year shift on the issue by Chancellor Angela Merkel sparked a rapid push for a parliamentary vote.
The reform would grant full marital rights, including being able to jointly adopt children, to gay and lesbian couples, who in Germany are now only able to enter so-called civil unions.
Ms Merkel, leader of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), had long voiced personal reservations about such a change, citing concern about "the well-being of the children".
Last Sunday, her junior coalition partners and election rivals, the Social Democrats (SPD), upped the ante by declaring they would insist on same-sex marriage in any future alliance.
Other political parties — the Greens, far-left Linke and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) — agree, leaving only the CDU opposed, along with the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Ms Merkel signalled her shifting position on Monday in an on-stage interview with the editor of women's magazine Brigitte.
She said her thinking had changed after a "memorable experience" when she recently met a lesbian couple who lovingly care for eight foster children in her Baltic coast electorate.
Ms Merkel used a characteristically vague formulation to drop the bombshell news, "I would like to shift the discussion in the direction of a vote of conscience rather than imposing anything from the top."
Allowing lawmakers to vote according to their conscience, rather than having to tow the party line, is seen as a near-certain way to push through same-sex marriage.