Watch: New Zealand parliament has voted to make same-sex marriage legal.Those in the public gallery broke into applause and cheered as it was announced the vote passed with 77 votes to 44. They then broke into song.

New Zealand became the 13th nation in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize gay marriage after the country’s Parliament approved a bill Monday, voting 77–44. Cheers erupted in the hall as the votes were counted after two hours of debate, which featured one legislator talking about her daughter’s first formal with her girlfriend. “Like countless other young women, she hopes for love, marriage, children and a house with a white picket fence,” Mojo Mathers said to applause. One M.P. who voted against the bill said he had become more open to gay marriage since being elected, but added that “our society is probably more divided than this House is on this issue.”

Same-sex marriage is now legal in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay.

Same-sex marriage legislation is pending in Britain and France.

Same-sex marriage is only allowed in nine U.S. states, Washington DC, and parts of Brazil and Mexico.

"Here's to the watchdogs, the whistleblowers, the nonviolent resisters. Those who fight for fairness and hustle to keep the planet honest. Theirs is not an easy stroll through the tulips."

As part of the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, New Zealand band Minuit have teamed up with New York photojournalist Nina Berman to produce "Stories For Boys: Occupy Edit," a people-inspired music video. These photos were taken at the height of the New York occupation, from mid-September to mid-November, as well as in Chicago for the NATO conference in May.

Berman, a veteran photographer and associate professor at Columbia University School of Journalism, is no stranger to being amidst chaotic situations with her camera, and her award winning images capture the expressions, purpose and character in people.

Minuit says that’s what drew them to her work and is also the essence of the Occupy movement.

“Here in New Zealand, Maori have a saying: ‘What is the most important thing? It is people, it is people, it is people.’ Nina’s photos over that ominous beat are spine-chilling.”

But for Minuit the video is not only about Occupy: “It’s for the watchdogs, the whistleblowers, the non-violent resisters who fight for fairplay and hustle to keep their communities honest. That is not an easy stroll through the tulips. Hug an activist today!”