Finland voted Friday to consider a new law to legalize same-sex marriage in a victory for campaigners who gathered thousands of signatures to force parliament to examine the issue.
The Finnish parliament approved the "citizens' initiative" proposal by 105 votes to 92, paving the way for a gender neutral marriage law in the country -- the last in the Nordic region to still outlaw gay marriage.
Anna Saarela, who led the campaign, told AFP that she felt "pure joy" after the vote.
"Finland is the last Nordic country where homosexual couples are not allowed to marry. It's a question of human rights," she said.
While the vote will not automatically result in a change of law, it launches the process for parliament to examine the issue.
The next step would involve a parliamentary committee, which would have to approve the proposed change before it goes to parliament for a final vote.
Saarela said however that there was "no doubt" that it would go through.
Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, who supported the initiative, described it as an example of people power.
"It's a sign of civic activism and indicates that Finnish law is heading in the same direction as the rest of the Nordics and the Western world on this sensitive and difficult question," he told YLE.
Although the proposal was rejected twice by the parliament's legal committee, an intense campaign in recent weeks helped increase support to bring Finland in line with nearly a dozen European countries.
But some lawmakers were still deeply opposed.
"This is a catastrophe for Finland," said Pentti Oinonen, a member of parliament for the nationalist The Finns party, which opposed the change. "Old traditions and values have been totally trampled on."
The citizens initiative campaign which began in 2013 collected 166,851 signatures, more than three times the 50,000 required by Finnish law to force the parliament to consider the proposal.
Finland has recognized same-sex partnerships since 2002.
The new marriage law, if approved, is not expected to come into force before 2016.