Gay marriages now accepted in Israel....

This is excellent news....

Less than two weeks after the violent protests that turned the planned Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade into a smaller, closed event at the Hebrew University stadium died down, the High Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that couples married in same-sex ceremonies abroad could be registered as married couples in Israel's Population Registry.

In a vote of 6-1, with Justice Elyakim Rubenstein being the sole dissenting vote, the court decreed that homosexual couples who marry abroad will enjoy the same status in the Interior Ministry as heterosexual couples who marry in civil ceremonies outside of Israel.

Moshe Negbi, a legal expert, said the court's decision was mostly symbolic because gay couples in Israel already had many of the rights of heterosexual partnerships. The significant changes were that they would now get the same tax breaks as a married couple and be able to adopt children, Negbi said.