By The Associated Press
Originally published April 17, 2013
Lawmakers voted 77 to 44 in favour of the gay-marriage bill on its third and final reading.
People watching from the public gallery and some lawmakers immediately broke into song after the result was announced, singing the New Zealand love song Pokarekare Ana in the indigenous Maori language.
"For us, we can now feel equal to everyone else," said Tania Penafiel Bermudez, a bank teller who said she already considers herself married to partner Sonja Fry but now can get a certificate to prove it. "This means we can feel safe and fair and right in calling each other wife and wife."
The entire article is here.
