German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday she voted agast legalizg gay marriage given her personal view that marriage should be between a man and a woman, but she hoped parliament's approval of the measure would lead to more social hn.
Contents:
- GERMANY'S MERKEL VOTED AGAST GAY MARRIAGE
- ANGELA MERKEL SIGNALS CHANGE STANCE ON GAY MARRIAGE GERMANY
- WHAT ANGELA MERKEL’S SHIFT ON GAY MARRIAGE REVEALS ABOUT HER STYLE
- WHY ANGELA MERKEL IS RIGHT TO OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE
- MERKEL RAIS PROSPECT OF GAY MARRIAGE GERMANY
GERMANY'S MERKEL VOTED AGAST GAY MARRIAGE
* merkel gay marriage *
BERLIN (Rters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday she voted agast legalizg gay marriage given her personal view that marriage should be between a man and a woman, but she hoped parliament’s approval of the measure would lead to more social hn. “It is really an amazg victory, ” said Beck, who has mpaigned around Europe for gay rights. Gay upl outsi the chancellery, not far om parliament, kissed and hugged after the cisn was announced, wavg rabow flags and rryg signs sayg “Marriage for everybody.
”After years of lewarm opposn to gay marriage followg her party’s le, Merkel said Monday that lawmakers uld take up the issue as a qutn of “nscience, ” allowg members of her nservative aln to dividually vote for if they prompted her center-left rivals to ll for a quick vote on the issue, addg to the agenda Friday on parliament’s last regular ssn before Germany’s Sept.
“It would be absurd to try and protect marriage by preventg people to marry, ” he told lawmakers the bate ahead of the appld Merkel’s ments that opened the way for the vote, but Social Democrat lawmaker Johann Kahrs noted that the chancellor has been a longtime opponent of gay marriage. Germany has allowed same-sex upl to enter civil partnerships sce 2001, but has not granted them full maral rights, which clu the possibily of jotly adoptg children, even though gay marriage enjoyed some 80 percent support, acrdg to recent polls.
ANGELA MERKEL SIGNALS CHANGE STANCE ON GAY MARRIAGE GERMANY
More than a dozen untri Europe have legalized gay marriage, all the wtern part of the ntent, and Germany had been the largt where was not yet legal. ”“Germany has bee the 23rd untry to regnize same-sex marriage and has sent a clear msage to the world that gay and lbian people should be entled to the same rights as everyone else, and to full and equal protectn of the law, ” Amnty’s Europe director John Dalhuisen new law won’t take effect for several months bee still needs to pass the upper hoe of parliament and be approved by the print, although those are formali.
It is also expected to face legal told reporters later that her vote agast the measure was based upon her readg of the untry’s law ncerng marriage but add that she did thk gay upl should be able to adopt. Analysts have suggted that by openg the door to gay marriage, Merkel removed yet another issue that her opponents uld have ed agast her an electn year — a nod to her pragmatic approach to her nearly 12 years as chancellor, Merkel has moved her party to the center and away om nservative orthodoxy, speedg up Germany’s ex om nuclear power and endg ary nscriptn, among other mov.
Angela Merkel has signalled a change her party’s opposn to gay marriage after statg MPs should be allowed a ee vote the German parliament.
WHAT ANGELA MERKEL’S SHIFT ON GAY MARRIAGE REVEALS ABOUT HER STYLE
Speakg at an event anised by the magaze Brigte, the German chancellor said she felt aggrieved that bate was maly rried out along party l and that she hoped would be “head towards a nscience vote” is wily believed the Bunstag would legalise gay marriage a ee vote on the issue.
Civil partnerships have been allowed sce 2001, but Merkel’s Christian Democratic Unn has risted lls to open up marriage to same-sex centre-right CDU, which has been erng as senr partner a aln wh the centre-left SPD sce 2013, has said prefers to amend legislatn so upl a civil partnership have the same tax stat and adoptn rights as married ls than three months before feral electns, Merkel’s ments uld take the wd out of her crics’ sails and open her party up to the wist possible range of post-electn Social Democrats, the German Greens and the rurgent liberal Free Democratic party have all signalled they would make possible CDU opposn to gay marriage a red le aln talks.
Then the chancellor said she had “difficulti” wh givg gay and lbian upl the right to adopt, admtg that this might seem old-fashned. The next day her Social Democrat (SPD) aln partners picked up on the ment, broke wh the CDU and lled a parliamentary vote on gay marriage wh the socialist Left party and the Greens.
WHY ANGELA MERKEL IS RIGHT TO OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE
Likewise, the chancellor firmly led out gay marriage when most Germans were opposed, but the latt YouGov poll puts support for at 66% (and for gay adoptn at 57%). Mrs Merkel’s shift on gay marriage is a wele illtratn of her strengths. That so late remds voters of her article appeared the Europe sectn of the prt edn unr the headle "Better late than never"Europe July 1st 2017Turkey is takg re of refuge, but failg to tegrate themGeia, a mol of reform, is stgglg to stay cleanThe Wt backs Balkan tocrats to keep the peace, agaFrance lnch s last high-speed rail lWhat Angela Merkel’s shift on gay marriage reveals about her styleEastern Europeans thk Wtern food brands are sellg them drossFrom the July 1st 2017 ednDisver stori om this sectn and more the list of ntents Explore the edn.
Appearg a wi-rangg live televisn terview on Monday, one of the last qutns om the dience me om a gay man who asked when he would fally be allowed to refer to his civil partner as “my hband” Merkel acknowledged that all parti apart om the CDU/CSU the Bunstag were favour of same-sex marriage, along wh many German voters, and said she hoped the bate would bee “a cisn of nscience” SPD pounced on the statement as a signal CDU policians would not be whipped a prospective vote, which they were sudnly ee to ll after apparently beg eed om their obligatns as a aln partner. ”Wh almost all of s neighbours supportg legal unns between gay partners, lls had been creasg Germany for the ernment to drop ristance that appeared creasgly Netherlands was the first European untry to legalise same-sex marriage, back 2001, followed by untri cludg Belgium, Spa, Canada, Norway, Swen, Portugal, Iceland, Denmark, France and the UK.
For gays and lbians Germany, Friday’s vote the Bunstag — which passed the bill by 393 vot to 226, wh the chancellor opposg the move — means they n soon get married and adopt children. “Merkel realized that by holdg on to her ‘No’ to marriage equaly, she no longer has anythg to ga but much to lose, ” Volker Beck, a veteran lawmaker for the opposn Greens and proment gay rights advote, told POLITICO. “It was Merkel’s own ‘Schabowski moment, ’” said Johann Kahrs, an MP and spokman on gay and lbian issu for the SPD, referrg to the East German official Günter Schabowski, who accintally revealed 1989 that cizens of the GDR would be ee to travel to the Wt.
MERKEL RAIS PROSPECT OF GAY MARRIAGE GERMANY
The opposn has stggled to fd issu to help them attack Merkel, and strategists the CDU had feared that same-sex marriage uld give them ammunn, pecially sce even 73 percent of her own nservative supporters back equal rights for gay and lbian upl.
More than 7 percent of the German populatn intifi as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, acrdg to a 2016 study by Dalia Rearch. Lawyers say that givg gay and lbian upl full equaly means they should also be able to adopt children.
Currently, gays and lbians are only allowed to adopt as dividuals, or to adopt the children of their spo as step-children. Beyond this, the troductn of full marriage rights will put an end to gays and lbians beg “send-class cizens, ” said Beck, strsg s importance for fightg lgerg prejudice German society. “We still have a high level of hate crime agast homosexuals, ” he said.