on an equal footing 復習
ドイツで同性婚が認められてから初めて、男性同士の結婚式が開かれました。
Germany celebrates 1st same-sex weddings after law change
Germany celebrated its first same-sex weddings Sunday, after a new law came into force putting gay and lesbian couples on an equal legal footing with heterosexual couples.
Town halls in Berlin, Hamburg and elsewhere opened their doors to mark the event, made possible by a surprise vote in Parliament three months earlier.
"We're making a single exception to fire a symbolic starter pistol because same-sex marriages are possible from today," said Gordon Holland, a registrar in Berlin's Schoeneberg district.
Holland said it was appropriate for Schoeneberg to hold the first same-sex wedding in the country because it has long been a center of gay life in the German capital.
About 60 guests and an equal number of journalists packed into Schoeneberg town hall's "Golden Room" to witness the marriage of Karl Kreile and his partner of 38 years, Bodo Mende.
The grooms entered the room to the popular "Wedding March" by 19th-century German composer Felix Mendelssohn, before saying their vows and signing the marriage documents to applause and cheers from the assembled guests.
http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/germany-celebrates-1st-sex-weddings-law-change-50207790
取り上げる表現は"be on an equal footing"です。"footing"といえば、「足取り、足がかり」という意味が一般的ですが、ここでは他の意味で使われています。『ジーニアス英和辞典』第４版（大修館）で調べてみると、「地位、身分、資格、間柄」などの意味があることが分かりました。さらに、"be on an equal footing with him"で「彼と対等の関係にある」という例文が載っていたので、今回の記事は、「法律上、同性カップルが異性カップルと同等になった」ということを表現しています。LDOCEでは、"with neither side having any advantage over the other"と定義されています。(Akim)
