Scotland has become the 17th country to legalize gay marriage on Tuesday February 4th.

The parliament’s Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill was passed by an impressive 105-18 margin. Scotland’s first same sex marriages may occur later this year.

Speaking to the Daily Record, Scottish Health Secretary Alex Neil said “We’re doing a remarkable thing today, we are saying on behalf of Scotland to the world, loud and clear that we believe in love between same sex couples as we do between opposite sex couples.”

Under the new bill, religious groups cannot be forced to officiate same sex weddings. The BBC has noted that neither the Church of Scotland nor the Scottish Catholic Church support the bill.

West Australian Greens MP Lynn MacLaren, who last year introduced a Same-Sex Marriage Bill in Western Australia, extended her congratulations to the Scots and shared her hopes that Australia can make similar changes.

“The overwhelming vote in the Scottish Parliament to legislate for same-sex couples to get married in the country demonstrates that Australia is continuing to fall behind the times”, explained Ms MacLaren.

“Congratulations to Scotland for becoming the 17th country to progressively legislate equality and acceptance through allowing Scottish same-sex couples to marry, the overwhelming vote of 105-18 shows that this is clearly a no-brainer for MPs representing voters who view marriage as a human right, regardless of sexual orientation”

Western Australia’s opportunity to remove marriage discrimination for gay couples is upon us. I call on WA MPs to support my bill”.