People Celebrate as Swiss Voters Firmly Back Same-Sex Marriage.

Supporters of same-sex marriage in Bern, Switzerland, cheer and applaud as a screen shows that Swiss voters firmly back same-sex marriage on Sunday.

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READ MORE: Switzerland voted by a wide margin Sunday to allow same-sex couples to marry, bringing the Alpine nation into line with many others in western Europe.

Official results showed the measure passed with 64.1% of voters in favor and won a majority in all of Switzerland's 26 cantons, or states.

Switzerland's parliament and the governing Federal Council supported the "Marriage for All" measure. Switzerland has authorized same-sex civil partnerships since 2007.

Supporters said passage would put same-sex partners on equal legal footing with heterosexual couples by allowing them to adopt children together and facilitating citizenship for same-sex spouses. It would also permit lesbian couples to use regulated sperm donation.

Opponents believe that replacing civil partnerships with full marriage rights would undermine families based on a union between one man and one woman.

At a polling station in Geneva on Sunday, voter Anna Leimgruber said she cast her ballot for the "no" camp because she believed "children would need to have a dad and a mom."

But Nicolas Dzierlatka, who voted "yes," said what children need is love. (AFP/AP)

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LINK: www.voanews.com/a/swiss-approve-same-sex-marriage-by-landslide-in-referendum/6246318.html