Gay Marriage Safe in Canada

Canadian MPs have rejected a proposal by the governing Conservative party to overturn a law allowing gay marriage, BBC reports. Twelve Conservative MPs, including several members of the cabinet, joined Liberals and Canada's other opposition parties to defeat the motion 175-123.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised to bring the law back before parliament during his successful election campaign earlier this year.

Canada's gay marriage law was passed after intense debate in July 2005 and Canada is one of only five countries where gay marriage is legal. The other countries are Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa and Spain are.

After a debate that began with few MPs in the chamber, Mr Harper conceded that the issue was unlikely to come back before the Canadian parliament.

"The vote was decisive and obviously we will accept the democratic resolve of the people's representatives," he said.

Gay rights activists see the rejection of the motion as a final victory for gay marriage supporters and believe most Canadians now have accepted gay marriage.