BERLIN (AP) – The Latest on German vote on same-sex marriage (all times local):
9:20 a.m.
German lawmakers have voted to legalize same-sex marriage in a snap vote only days after Chancellor Angela Merkel changed her longstanding position.
Lawmakers voted 393 for legalizing “marriage for everybody” and 226 against with 4 abstentions.
Merkel herself voted against the measure, but paved the way for Friday’s vote after saying Monday that lawmakers could take up the issue as a “question of conscience” – freeing members of her conservative coalition, which has been against same-sex marriage, to individually vote for it.
Germany has allowed same-sex couples to enter civil partnerships since 2001, but same-sex marriages remain illegal.
All of Merkel’s potential coalition partners after the Sept. 4 election, including the center-left Social Democrats of her challenger, Martin Schulz, have been calling for same-sex marriage to be legalized.
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8:30 a.m.
German lawmakers have agreed to put the legalization of same-sex marriage to a vote in parliament’s last session before its summer break, paving the way for the likely passage of the law.
Bringing the measure to a vote in Friday’s session, the last before September elections, was fast-tracked after Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday lawmakers could take up the issue as a “question of conscience,” freeing members of her conservative coalition, which has been against same-sex marriage, to individually vote for the measure.