Guerrero has become the 31st federal entity to legalize gay marriage, leaving just one state without laws permitting matrimony between same-sex couples.

Thirty-eight of 46 lawmakers in the unicameral state Congress voted in favor of legalization, six opposed the legislation and two abstained. Tuesday’s vote came less than a week after the Tabasco Congress legalized same-sex marriage.

Tamaulipas is now the only state that doesn’t allow couples of the same sex to marry, but lawmakers in the northern border state are expected to legalize the practice soon.

Guerrero’s legalization bill – which changes the legal definition of marriage to a union between two people rather than a man and a woman – was presented by lawmakers with Morena, the party founded by President López Obrador.

Yoloczin Domínguez Serna, Morena’s parliamentary leader, said that legalization of gay marriage reaffirms the Congress’ opposition to all kinds of discrimination.

Ricardo Locia, an anthropologist and gay rights activist, said that the approval of gay marriage in Guerrero is akin to payment of a “historic debt” to members of the LGBT community who have been victims of crime including murder due to their sexuality.

Guerrero is the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage this year after Durango, Jalisco, Yucatán, Veracruz, México state and Tabasco. Several other states, including Guanajuato, Querétaro and Zacatecas, approved marriage equality in 2021.

With reports from Animal Político and EFE