BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s highest court has cleared the way for same-sex couples to marry in the conservative Roman Catholic nation.

Gay couples in Colombia were already allowed to form civil unions. But Thursday’s ruling by the Constitutional Court for the first time allows them to wed the same as heterosexual couples.

The decision was widely expected after a 6-3 decision earlier this month rejected a justice’s opinion that would have prevented public notaries from registering same-sex unions as marriages.

With Thursday’s decision, Colombia joins only a handful of nations in Latin America allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, including Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

As part of the proceedings President Juan Manuel Santos’ government argued in favor of marriage rights for gay couples.

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