MADRID — The Spanish Parliament gave final approval Thursday to a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, making Spain the third country to legalize gay marriage, after the Netherlands and Belgium.

The measure, passed by a vote of 187 to 147 with 4 abstentions, says that couples will have the same rights, including the freedom to marry and to adopt children, regardless of gender.

On Tuesday, Canada's House of Commons passed legislation legalizing gay marriage, and the bill is expected to pass easily in the Senate and become federal law by the end of July. Spain and Canada will then be the only nations to eliminate all legal distinctions between same-sex and heterosexual unions, according to supporters of the bill.

Spain' law will go into effect immediately after it is published in Parliament's official bulletin, probably within a couple of days.

Only Canada's legislation contains language as liberal as Spain's, according to gay marriage advocates.

The strength of the Spanish measure, these advocates say, is that it simply adds one sentence to existing law: "Marriage will have the same requirements and results when the two people entering into the contract are of the same sex or of different sexes."