Slovenia’s parliament voted yesterday to legalise same-sex marriage, despite fierce opposition from Catholic Church and right-wing groups. The bill was approved by a vote of 51 to 28 in the 90-seat parliament, with five lawmakers abstaining.

“This amendment defines marriage as a life-long community of two persons, regardless of their sex, eliminating the discriminative situation in force up to now,” said Matej T. Vatovec, a ZL legislator. He added, “Today Slovenia is entering the 21st century.”

Many individuals and groups have congratulated Slovenian lesbian, gay and bisexual people on Twitter.

Congratulations #SLOVENIA for introducing marriage #equality! http://t.co/bEUVjN0d0N

— LGBTI Intergroup (@LGBTIintergroup) March 4, 2015

So my homeland finally passed a law on allowing gay marriage yesterday.Welcome out of the Middle Ages,Slovenia.Proud of you for once.:)

— Dominika Sambolic (@Dominis88) March 4, 2015

To the good people of #Slovenia. Very well done. Your parliament has done you proud. #MarriageEquality.

— Con Psalios (@Konstantinos305) March 4, 2015

https://twitter.com/BeLonG_To/status/572886717587443712

Really happy that the same sex couples can get marry now in my country(Slovenia) 🙂

— sara (@saralluna_) March 4, 2015

The Country joins a growing list of countries such as the Luxemburg, United Kingdom, Spain and France, that have introduced marriage for same-sex couples.