A motion calling for the introduction of same-sex marriage in the North has been rejected by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Fifty-one MLAs (Assembly members) voted against the Sinn Féin motion, with 43 MLAs voting in favour.
It is the third time in the past 18 months the Assembly has rejected same-sex marriage.
Northern Ireland is now the only part of Britain which does not allow same sex couples to wed.
The first gay marriages recently took place in England and Wales, with Scotland due to follow later this year.
The SDLP supported the motion but it was opposed by the DUP while only two UUP MLAs, Michael Copeland and Danny Kinahan, broke the unionist trend and voted in favour.
Among those who rejected the motion were NI21 MLAs Basil McCrea and John McCallister and Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice.
The motion, debated earlier today, came a day after the North’s Catholic bishops, including Bishop of Derry Most Rev Dr Donal McKeown, in an open letter, urged MLAs to reject the same-sex marriage motion.
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