The Northern Ireland Assembly has narrowly voted against a motion to legalise same-sex marriage. 
Fifty members of the Assembly (MLAs) voted against the motion, which was tabled by Sinn Féin and the Green Party, while 45 MLAs voted in favour.
No members of the Sinn Féin or SDLP, the two Nationalist parties, voted against the motion. Only one SDLP member, Alban McGuinness, abstained.
Only three Unionists, UUP MLAs Michael Copeland, Danny Kinahan and Basil McCrea, voted for the motion.
Speaking in the debate Sammy Wilson, the Northern Ireland Finance Minister, said there were many other issues the Assembly should be debated, such as the economy.
He also commented that there was “no widespread demand across society for the kind of changes which are being asked for in this motion”.
He said: “I am opposed to gay marriage, I would have no intention of bringing forward any legislation to this House to facilitate gay marriage and I believe that in doing that I do reflect what is the general view in this society in Northern Ireland.”
Mr Wilson also said a change in the law would create conflicts between church and state – “for example, church youth groups could be banned from using council facilities” as a result of their religious beliefs.
Conall McDevitt of the SDLP countered this “flawed logic” by posing the question: “Are Catholic schools teaching children about divorce?”
In the UK, equality legislation has already forced Catholic adoption agencies to close because they refuse to refer same-sex couple as prospective adoptive couples.
Jim Allister, of the Traditional Unionist Voice party, warned that just as civil partnership had been the “slippery slope to same-sex marriage”, the legalisation of gay marriage would be a “slippery slope to gay adoption”.
Before Monday’s debate, the Presbyterian Church had written to all assembly members stating its opposition to any change in the current legal definition of marriage.
In its letter, the Presbyterian Church said it was “not merely an issue of conscience for Christian people and churches, but a very significant one for the whole of society”.
It said gay marriage would “effectively demolish generations and centuries of societal norms established on Judaeo-Christian values”.
“The steady erosion of such values, with minimal debate about the worldview replacing them, causes us the very greatest concern,” it added.
The Church argued it was not an equality issue, “as all of the significant legal benefits and rights available through marriage are already equally available through civil partnership”.