Marriage is a man and a woman living together

[abaris]

I'm going to ask a stupid question.  Are there two different types of marriage license in Germany? Does one say civil union and the other say marriage?

No, it's not stupid at all. It's the fig leave retreat of conservative parties in Europe. They know, public opinion doesn't allow for outright fighting gay unions in the name of religion, so they found a half assed compromise. The Civil Union. It grants the same rights and obligations married people have without calling it marriage.

That's a good source how things stand with gay marriage with included map. Notice that the most religious countries to the east don't allow for it, whereas the Scandinavians, as usual, are all for it. Interestingly Spain and Portugal also have gay marriage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:S...map_Europe