Germany has finally made same sex marriage legal

It's been approved by MPs in a snap vote

Today marks a huge day for the LGBT community as a majority of German MPs have voted to legalise same-sex marriage.

The German legal code will now say: 'Marriage is entered into for life by two people of different or the same sex.'

The bill was voted for by 393 lawmakers (with 226 voting against) and the reform will also allow gay couples to adopt children and have full marital rights.

Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, who has previously admitted to having a 'hard time' with the issue voted against the bill but has since said that she hopes the passing of it will bring more 'social cohesion and peace.' She did, however, change her stance on same-sex adoption after having dinner with a lesbian couple who had eight foster children in their care.

Seeing at 83% of Germans were in favour of gay marriage, the sudden vote came about after pressure from citizens who started rallying on Twitter under the hashtag #EheFuerAlle (MarriageForAll).

This comes two years after the Republic of Ireland voted to legalise gay marriage. Other countries that legally recognise civil marriages include Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands,France, Denmark (although not the Faroe Islands), Spain, Luxembourg, Portugal and the UK (excluding Northern Ireland and Jersey).

Now, we await to see if Austria and Italy will follow suit.