Spain's lower house of parliament approved the government's gay marriage bill today in a major step toward making Spain the third European country to legalise same-sex marriages.
The bill, which will also pave the way for gay couples to adopt children, received 183 votes in favour, 136 against and six abstentions in the 350-seat chamber.
It will now go to the Senate - where the Socialist ruling party have ample support - for final approval in the coming weeks. Belgium and The Netherlands are the only two other European countries that have legalised gay marriages.
In the vote, deputies agreed the phrase "Matrimony shall have the same requisites and effects regardless of whether the persons involved are of the same or different sex" should be incorporated into Spain's Civil Law.
The measure has been fiercely opposed by Spain's Roman Catholic church and the conservative opposition Popular Party, whose deputies formed the bulk of the opposing vote today.
Organisations representing the Jewish, Protestant and Orthodox faiths in Spain also expressed opposition to the bill, saying recognition of other types of unions between couples should not alter the institution of matrimony.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialists proposed the bill last October, seven months after winning general elections that ended an eight-year stint in office for the Popular Party.
In an opinion poll on the issue carried out by the government-run Centre for Sociological Investigations last June, 66 per cent of Spaniards favoured legalising gay marriage; 26 per cent opposed.