South Africa ? The South African Parliament overwhelmingly approved legislation recognizing gay marriages – a first for a continent where in some countries homosexuality is illegal. The National Assembly passed the Civil Union Bill on Tuesday with a 230-41 vote.

It now has to go to the National Council of Provinces before being signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki.

The Civil Union Bill provides for the “voluntary union of two persons, which is solemnized and registered by either a marriage or civil union.” It does not specify whether they are heterosexual or homosexual partnerships.

But it also says marriage officers do not have to perform a ceremony between same-sex couples if doing so would conflict their “conscience, religion and belief.”