A parliamentary select committee in New Zealand has recommended that a bill proposing to legalize same-sex marriage be passed into law – with one caveat – that no religious leader be obliged to marry a couple if it is against their beliefs.

‘The bill seeks to extend the legal right to marry to same-sex couples; it does not seek to interfere with people’s religious freedoms,’ said the Government Administration Committee’s report released today, New Zealand Herald reports.

Sponsor of the private member’s bill, Labour MP Louisa Wall, said:

‘Marriage equality is about fairness and choice. This process has showed that that message has really resonated with New Zealanders.’

Commenting on the level of engagement in the political process on this issue, the report said:

‘The passion with which submitters made their arguments to us was palpable… We are heartened that so many of the younger generation, which is so often maligned as uninterested in politics and marriage, chose to involve themselves in this debate.’

The report said that the ‘majority’ of the Committee, which consisted of six MPs from the National Party, the Labour Party and the Green party, ‘consider that marriage is a human right, and that it is unacceptable for the state to deny this right to same-sex couples’.

The second reading of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Bill in New Zealand’s parliament is scheduled for 13 March.

The first reading of the bill passed last August with 80 voting for it and 40 against.