Colombia’s Constitutional Court is about to rule on the legality of same-sex marriage and local media believe that six of the nine justices are likely to support gay couples being allowed to marry.

Noticias RCN are reporting that the court is hearing an appeal against a ruling by Judge Jorge Pretelt which found that, ‘In Colombia, the institution of civil marriage involves a concept collected from the foundations of Western civil law tradition, which is structured as a figure formed by the will of a man and a woman unit.’

However the court recently ruled 6-to-2 that gay couples can adopt children they aren’t related to and 5-to-2 that both same-sex parents’ names can appear on a child’s birth certificate even if the child was conceived using donor eggs or sperm.

Only five of the justices would have to support the legalization of same-sex marriage for it to be legalized and the court would likely instruct the reform to be implemented within a fixed period after the ruling.

The court gave Colombia’s civil registry only 30 days to update its paperwork so that both parents could be recognized on birth certificates so it is likely the court would set a similar deadline.

According to Noticias RCN the court could rule on the issue as soon as Thursday this week.