The New Zealand Parliament on Thursday unanimously passed a motion in support of gay rights in Russia in the run-up to the Winter Olympics, which open in Sochi on Feb. 8.

"It appears that this may have been the first such motion passed by a national parliament," said Green Party Member of Parliament Jan Logie, who moved the motion.

"The winter Olympics in Sochi has given us the opportunity to tell the Russian government that we are all watching and that their attacks on the human rights of gay and lesbian people will not be ignored or forgotten," Logie said in a statement.

The motion noted "Russia's recent passing of anti-homosexual legislation," and asked "the New Zealand government to urge other governments and the winter Olympics Organizing Committee to protect the rights of all people in Russia, regardless of their sexual orientation."

New Zealand became the 13th country in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage in August last year. Endi

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