Mexico City lawmakers have approved allowing gay marriage, becoming the first in Latin America to do so. City legislators have passed the bill 39-20 with five lawmakers absent. Gay marriage is allowed in seven countries and some parts of the United States.
The city mayor, leftist Marcelo Ebrard, is expected to ratify their decision and put it into law. The bill calls for changes to the city's civic code that will eliminate the phrase that says marriage is the uniting of "a man and a woman" and replace it with "the free uniting of two people."