Same-sex marriage has been legal in Germany since 1 October 2017. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriage passed the Bundestag on 30 June 2017 and the Bundesrat on 7 July. It was signed into law on 20 July by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and published in the "Federal Law Gazette" on 28 July 2017. Previously, the governing CDU/CSU had refused to legislate on the issue of same-sex marriage. In June 2017, Chancellor Angela Merkel unexpectedly said she hoped the matter would be put to a conscience vote. Consequently, other party leaders organised for a vote to be held in the last week of June during the final legislative session before summer recess. The Bundestag passed the legislation on 30 June by 393 votes to 226, and it went into force on 1 October. Polling suggests that a significant majority of Germans support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Germany was the first country in Central Europe, the fourteenth in Europe, and the 22nd in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide.
From 2001 until 2017, Germany recognized registered life partnerships for same-sex couples. The benefits granted by these partnerships were gradually extended by the Federal Constitutional Court throughout several rulings until they provided for most, but not all, of the rights of marriage.
Registered life partnerships.
First and second Schröder governments.
The "Act on Registered Life Partnerships" () was a compromise between proponents of same-sex marriage and conservatives from the two major conservative parties, whose MPs' interpretation of marriage excluded gay people. The act established registered life partnerships (, ) granting same-sex couples a number of rights enjoyed by married opposite-sex couples. It was drafted by Volker Beck of the Greens and was approved under the First Schröder Cabinet, a coalition government constiting of the Greens and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The Bundestag approved it in November 2000 with the government parties voting in favour and the opposition CDU/CSU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) voting against. President Johannes Rau signed the law on 16 February 2001 and it entered into force on 1 August 2001.
On 17 July 2002, the Federal Constitutional Court upheld the act as constitutional. The court found, unanimously, that the process leading to the law's enactment was constitutional. The 8-member court further ruled, with three dissenting votes, that the substance of the law conforms to the Basic Law (, the German Constitution), and ruled that these partnerships could be granted equal rights to those given to married couples. The initial law had deliberately withheld certain privileges, such as joint adoption and pension rights for widows and widowers, in an effort to observe the "special protection" which the Constitution provides for marriage and the family. The court determined that the "specialness" of the protection was not in the quantity of protection, but in the obligatory nature of this protection, whereas the protection of registered partnerships was at the Bundestag's discretion.
On 12 October 2004, the "Registered Life Partnership Law (Revision) Act" () was passed by the Bundestag, increasing the rights of registered life partners to include, among others, the possibility of stepchild adoption and simpler alimony and divorce rules, but excluding the same tax benefits as in a marriage. The law took effect on 1 January 2005.
First Merkel Government.
In July 2008, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that a transgender person who transitioned to female, after having been married to a woman for more than 50 years, could remain married to her wife and change her legal gender to female. It gave the Bundestag one year to effect the necessary change in the relevant law.
On 22 October 2009, the Constitutional Court ruled that a man whose employer had given him and his registered partner inferior pension benefits on account of him not being married was entitled to the same benefits he would receive were he and his partner married and of opposite sexes. The court's decision mandated equal rights for same-sex registered couples not just in regard to pension benefits, but in regard to all rights and responsibilities applying to married couples.
Second Merkel Government.
On 25 October 2009, the new CDU/CSU-FDP coalition released its government programme. It stipulated that the tax inequality between same-sex life partners and opposite-sex married couples would be repealed and the Constitutional Court's ruling of 22 October would be codified into law. However, the government programme did not mention adoption rights.
On 17 August 2010, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that surviving registered partners are entitled to the same inheritance tax rules as surviving spouses. Previously, surviving marital partners paid 7–30% inheritance tax while surviving registered partners paid 17–50%.
On 18 February 2013, the Constitutional Court broadened adoption rights for registered partners. The court ruled that a partner must be allowed to adopt the other partner's adopted child, a so-called "successive adoption", and not only a partner's biological child. However, the government did not bring up a vote in Parliament to change the adoption laws before it adjourned in June 2013. The court gave the Bundestag until 30 June 2014 to change the laws. On 6 June 2013, the Constitutional Court ruled that registered partners should have joint tax filing benefits equal to those of married opposite-sex couples. The Bundestag had to change the law retroactively.
Third Merkel Government.
While the new CDU/CSU-SPD government had to allow successive adoption by June 2014 as required by the 2013 Constitutional Court ruling, the court was expected to rule in 2014 whether registered partners should be allowed to jointly adopt children as well, but dismissed the case in February 2014 on procedural grounds. In March 2014, the coalition government approved a bill to allow successive adoption, with discussion on whether or not to implement full adoption equality. The Bundesrat recommended full adoption equality, and a Bundestag committee held a hearing on the topic. On 22 May, the Bundestag passed the law while rejecting proposals by the Greens for full adoption equality. Another law to grant same-sex couples full tax equality passed unanimously in the Bundestag, finishing the required legal changes following the June 2013 court ruling.
In October 2015, the Bundestag approved a government bill modifying a series of laws concerning registered partnerships. It gave registered partners the same rights as married couples in several legal areas; there were, however, no noteworthy changes. The bill passed the Bundesrat in November 2015.
The ability to enter into a registered life partnership was closed off on 1 October 2017. No further partnerships are granted in Germany, and couples may retain their status as registered partners or convert their union into a recognized marriage.
Partnership statistics.
The registered partnership law went into effect on 1 August 2001. By October 2004, 5,000 same-sex couples had registered.
In 2007, there were 15,000 registered couples, two-thirds being male, and in 2010 there were 23,000 couples. In May 2011, 68,268 people reported being in a registered life partnership. As of the end of 2016, 44,000 registered partnerships had been conducted in Germany; approximately 25,000 (56.8%) were between men, while 19,000 were between women (43.2%).
Same-sex marriage.
CDU/CSU, the senior member parties of Germany's coalition governments between 2005 and 2021, were historically opposed to the legalisation of same-sex marriage. The Greens, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Left Party support same-sex marriage and voted in June 2012 for a defeated bill to legalise it. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) supports same-sex marriage, though it rejected legislation when they were part of a coalition government with the CDU/CSU between 2009 and 2013. The SPD agreed to oppose same-sex marriage when in government with the CDU/CSU between 2013 and 2017. Most parties made agreement on same-sex marriage a condition for joining a coalition government with the CDU/CSU after the 2017 federal election. Since legalization in October 2017, the CDU/CSU has opposed motions to repeal the same-sex marriage law, and mostly considers the matter "settled". In 2020, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) published a political video supporting same-sex marriage and families, and in 2023 the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) adopted a party platform supporting same-sex marriage. As of 2023, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) remains the largest party opposed to same-sex marriage.
In German, same-sex marriage is known as () or more commonly in public discourse as (), meaning "marriage for all".
Second Merkel Government.
The opposition Greens released a draft same-sex marriage law in June 2009. In March 2010, the Senate of Berlin announced its intention to introduce a same-sex marriage bill in the Bundesrat, the federal representation of the German states. According to the Senate, this law would best fit the Constitutional Court's ruling that same-sex couples must be treated equally to heterosexual couples. The Bundesrat rejected the law in September 2010. Only Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen and North Rhine-Westphalia voted in favour of the same-sex marriage bill; the other 12 states did not. In June 2011, the Senate of Hamburg, following CDU losses in state elections around the country, also announced its intention to introduce a same-sex marriage bill in the Bundesrat.
On 28 June 2012, a Greens motion to legalise same-sex marriage was defeated in the Bundestag by a vote of 309 to 260 with 12 abstentions. The motion was meant to give parity to same-sex couples in adoption and tax purposes. CDU/CSU and FDP members voted against the proposal, while the opposition parties (Social Democratic Party, Greens, and The Left) supported it.
On 22 March 2013, the Bundesrat passed a bill proposed by 5 states (Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein) to open marriage to same-sex couples. The bill was sent to the Bundestag for a vote; however, the ruling coalition was still the same as in 2012 when the previous proposal was defeated.
Third Merkel Government.
Developments in 2013–2017.
Federal elections were held on 22 September 2013, after which a new government coalition was formed. The new Bundestag, inaugurated on 22 October, again consisted of a theoretical majority of parties in favour of same-sex marriage (SPD, The Left and the Greens). The Left immediately introduced a bill to legalise same-sex marriage, but the SPD did not support it in order to not jeopardise negotiations on government formation. Even though the SPD had campaigned on "100% equality" for LGBT people, the coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and the SPD did not contain any significant change regarding LGBT rights. The Left's bill had its first reading on 19 December 2013 and was subsequently sent to the Legal Affairs Committee for consideration.
On 5 June 2015, nine states (Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia) submitted a same-sex marriage bill to the Bundesrat. The legislation had its first reading on 12 June 2015. In the Bundestag, the Greens submitted another bill on 10 June 2015. It had its first reading on 18 June. On 25 September 2015, the Bundesrat voted to approve the bill proposed by the nine states. The bill moved to the Bundestag where the governing parties (CDU/CSU and SPD) blocked the consideration of all three pending same-sex marriage bills.
In March 2017, the SPD, the junior partner in the coalition government, announced they would press the CDU to legalise same-sex marriage in the face of overwhelming public support. The leader of the SPD in the Bundestag, Thomas Oppermann, said his party would introduce a bill, in addition to the long-pending bills of the Greens, The Left and the one referred from the Bundesrat, but eventually did not do so. On 20 June 2017, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected an application by the Greens for an injunction ordering the Legal Affairs Committee to send bills legalising same-sex marriage to lawmakers for a vote in Parliament's last pre-election session. On 17 June 2017, the Greens pledged not to participate in any governing coalition after the 2017 elections unless the legalisation of same-sex marriage was part of the agreement. On 24 June, FDP Leader Christian Lindner said that he would recommend that his party make a similar commitment, and the following day the SPD made a similar pledge.
Bundestag vote and approval.
In late June 2017, whilst answering audience questions at a public forum in Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel unexpectedly stated that she hoped the question of same-sex marriage would be put to a conscience vote. This was widely interpreted to mean that she would allow a vote in the Bundestag on the matter without party whip control by the Union parties. Shortly after her statement, several politicians, including