New Zealand Green MP Metiria Turei during the final vote on marriage equality.

On Wednesday, the New Zealand Parliament voted 77-44 to approve marriage equality in its final reading, making it the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to do so. This marks the first time a marriage equality law explicitly defines protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity — rescinding requirements that trans people divorce before they can change their gender marker on their birth record. The bill still requires “royal assent,” a mere formality, and couples should be able to start marrying in August.

New Zealand brings the total number of countries that have legally recognized same-sex couples’ right to marry to 14, counting France, which still has a final technical vote next week in the National Assembly, where it already previously passed. Uruguay became the 12th country to support the freedom to marry earlier this month.

The group Australian Marriage Equality is using this opportunity to shame its country’s “corresponding failure” to pass marriage equality as something they feel “deeply embarrassed” about. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who opposes marriage for same-sex couples, was unmoved by New Zealand’s accomplishment.

Upon passage of the bill, the gallery broke out into singing the traditional New Zealand love song “Pokarekare Ana,” which includes the translated lyrics, “I have written you a letter, and enclosed with it my ring. If your people should see it, then the trouble will begin… My poor pen is broken, my paper is spent, But my love for you endures, and remains forever more.” Watch the powerful moment:

MP Louisa Wall

This week, the New Zealand Parliament had its second vote — the most crucial of three — and approved marriage equality with a vote of 77 to 40. Typically the third vote is just a formality, suggesting the country is about to become the 12th on the planet to allow the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. The first vote took place back in August, when equality advanced with a slightly wider margin of 80-40.

The bill’s sponsor, Labour MP Louisa Wall, implored the lawmakers to stand against the prejudice that LGBT people experience, and even quoted hip-hop artist Macklemore:

WALL: The agony and hardship that so many who bravely made submissions have had to face is unreasonable. But what’s totally unacceptable, is the state perpetuating that agony and hardship by not issuing marriage licences to loving, consenting and eligible non-heterosexual couples. [...]

“And I can’t change/ Even if I tried/ Even if I wanted to/ I can’t change…” I hope the House will give a message to all young people. You don’t have to change. You can be who you are and we, as a society, will value who you are.

Prime Minister John Key has promised his support for marriage equality and even participated in a mock gay wedding this past December. In addition, the youth wings of all eight political parties support the freedom to marry.