Gay couples in Colombia may be able to get married as soon as Friday (21 June), as the deadline for the law approaches.

In 2011, the South American country’s Constitutional Court ruled gays and lesbians will be able to legally register their relationships after 20 June if lawmakers failed to extend them the same benefits through marriage.

The court ruled gay couples have equal legal rights to be constituted as a family, and Colombian lawmakers must eliminate a ‘deficit of legal protection’.

The Colombian Supreme Court is expected to make an announcement on gay unions on Thursday (20 June).

In April this year, the Colombian Senate overwhelmingly voted against equal marriage.

At the time, the bill’s author Senator Armando Beneditti said the Senate acted like a ‘caveman’.

‘It is not representative and is regressive because while the first world, like France who have legalized gay marriage, we here want to look like the Congo or Uganda.’

Speaking to The Washington Blade, Marcela SÃ¡nchez Buitrago, executive director of LGBT rights group Colombia Diversa said some notaries have already said they will not marry same-sex couples.

‘This in the view of Colombia Diversa does not comply with the Constitutional Court’s order,’ SÃ¡nchez said.

Other gay rights activists have suggested some notaries and judges will follow the Constitutional Court’s ruling, but it remains unclear how exactly they will interpret it.

LGBT groups in Colombia are urging same-sex couples who encounter a registrar or a judge who refuses to allow them to get married to petition a court to reverse the decision.

Argentina is the only South American country at the moment where same-sex couples can legally marry, with Uruguay following in August.

In Brazil, despite 14 states choosing to legalize same-sex marriage, there is not a national same-sex law yet.

This is in despite of the country’s National Council of Justice saying registrars cannot deny marriage licenses to gay couples last month.