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A judge in Colombia on Thursday said a gay couple can legally marry.

Caracol Radio reported that Carmen Lucía Rodríguez Díaz, a civil judge in Bogotá, the country’s capital, “defended the viability of marriage for gay couples” in a five page ruling she wrote after a couple identified as Diego and Juan petitioned her to legally recognize their relationship. The two men are expected to tie the knot in a civil marriage ceremony on July 24.

Same-sex couples in Colombia on June 20 began to seek legal recognition of their relationships.

The South American country’s Constitutional Court in 2011 ruled gays and lesbians could legally register their relationships within two years if the country’s lawmakers failed to extend to them the same benefits heterosexuals receive through marriage.

The Colombian Senate in April overwhelmingly rejected a bill that would have allowed nuptials for gays and lesbians.

The June 20 deadline passed amid confusion as to whether same-sex couples could actually tie the knot in Colombia because the Constitutional Court’s ruling did not contain the word “marriage.” Some notaries said they would allow gays and lesbians to enter into a “solemn contract” that is similar to an agreement into which two people enter when they buy a house together, as opposed to a civil marriage.

“This in the view of Colombia Diversa does not comply with the Constitutional Court’s order,” Marcela Sánchez Buitrago, executive director of Colombia Diversa, an LGBT advocacy group, told the Washington Blade last month.