Same-sex religious marriages will be allowed in Northern Ireland, the British government said on Thursday, bowing to pressure from LGBT+ campaigners after the first secular lesbian wedding in February. Gay and lesbian couples in Northern Ireland will be able to have religious weddings from September, a British government spokeswoman said in an emailed statement, while converting civil partnerships to marriage will be possible by the end of 2020. The British parliament voted in July 2019 to force Northern Ireland, which had been the only part of the United Kingdom without same-sex marriage since 2013, to change its laws. “For the couples who were waiting to make plans for their future, they were left in a position of uncertainty and we’ve certainly moved forward a little step today,” said Patrick Corrigan, the head of Amnesty International in Northern Ireland.