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Portuguese parliament votes to legalise gay marriage
Portugal's parliament passed a bill today that would make the predominantly Catholic country the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.
The conservative president, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, is thought unlikely to veto the socialist government's bill, which won the support of all left-of-center parties. His ratification would allow the first gay marriage ceremonies to take place in April, a month before Pope Benedict XVI is due on an official visit to Portugal.
Right-of-center parties opposed the change and sought a national referendum on the issue, but their proposal was rejected and the government's bill was passed by 125 votes to 99.
Gay rights campaigners applauded from the galleries, hugged and kissed outside the building and ate wedding cake.
"This law rights a wrong," the prime minister, Jose Socrates, said in a speech to politicians, adding that it "simply ends pointless suffering."