Today, German lawmakers voted by 393–226 to legalize gay marriage.
While Germany has an extreme liberal reputation outside of Europe, Germany is a fairly conservative, Christian country. The ruling party is the center-right Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), and Angela Merkel herself—the daughter of a pastor—has long vetoed any free vote on gay marriage. The surprise is less that legalization took Germany this long and more that it happened at all.
According to Merkel, she allowed the vote after having dinner with a lesbian couple in her home state and seeing how happy their adopted children were. According to her opponents, the vote was cynical pandering to liberal voters before September’s national election. Whatever the reason, gay marriage is now set to come into force in Germany by the end of 2017.
Congratulations Germany on this milestone!