Germany has had civil unions since 2001. But this construct had been very barebones, initially. When it was introduced it hardly granted any rights to same-sex couples. Many of these rights have been amended over the years. Mostly since 2012, and with a lot of pressure from the Federal Court and against the expressed will of Merkel's party. The big thing still missing are adoption rights.
But then there's the real-life handling of civil unions, as well: Tax regulations were equalized between civil unions and marriages in 2013 (through a Federal Court ruling, I think). Until last year, all tax-related paperwork required one partner to be registered as "husband" and one as "wife" because the software (from public institutions, no less!) couldn't handle same-sex partners. And when my husband - oh, wait, "registered life partner" (how romantic!) - called his work last December to inform them he's now in a civil union, they weren't able to register that because the option was missing... and we're talking about a big, globally known corporation here. It was extremely frustrating to see and experience how civil unions were often not taken seriously, despite having been installed over 15 years ago.
That's something that often happens in Germany, to be honest. Our laws and regulations are often quite progressive. But society doesn't always reflect that too well.
Germany has often been among the more conservative countries in Western Europe. Thanks in particular to Merkel's party, CDU, and their Bavarian sister party, CSU (which is often way worse). But our "conservatism" probably doesn't fall on the same scale as American conservatism. During the past few US elections, Germans have traditionally largely supported the Democratic candidate - both Obama and Clinton hit approval ratings in excess of 90%.
But then, it's often also tricky to perceive a country's politics only through a foreign politics viewpoint. Angela Merkel has done some amazing things in this area and I think it's well-deserved that she's a highly regarded world leader and has been praised for her handling of the refugee crises and as a defender of democracy. But a lot of people aren't as happy with her in regards to domestic politics. Some (count me in) because she is often way too hesitant and conservative, others because they decry her as "leftist" (among them members of her own party and, especially, members of her Bavarian sister party). And the frustrating thing with Merkel is also, that she rarely speaks from her heart or her own mind. On most issues she waits to see which is the most popular way to take - she's extremely opportunistic in this regard. And the same thing has now been happening with legalizing gay marriage.
But you know what? I don't wanna care at this point. Whether Merkel made her decision because of a change of heart, or a slip of tongue or because she wanted to rob the opposition parties off an election topic... The result that tomorrow may bring matters. Because it may change the life of so many people. And I couldn't be happier about the thought that by tomorrow evening this one, decade long struggle may come to an end, finally.
Sorry for the long reply. But there are so many interesting aspects to this whole issue in regards to German politics... and it feels a little like the country (or its political leadership, at least) is going bananas right now. But, again, good riddance to them as long as the bill passes tomorrow.
