Tolerance towards same-sex unions seem to be spreading around the world like an epidemic. First, it affected the United States, and possibly soon, churches in the United Kingdom as well.

The Scottish Episcopal Church, a Christian church in Scotland, took its first step towards allowing gay unions by introducing a major change in the definition of marriage in the canon law that it follows.

The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church, in a meeting on Friday in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, approved on first reading the deletion of the portion in its doctrinal statement wherein marriage is defined as the union "of one man and one woman."

Seven bishops, 69 percent of the clergy and 80 percent of the laity supported the move towards allowing gay unions, which included a so-called "conscience clause" protecting clergy who choose not to officiate homosexual weddings.

Right Reverend Dr. Gregor Duncan, Anglican Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway and acting convener of the church's Faith and Order Board, described the Scottish Episcopal Church's decision to amend its definition of marriage as an "important" one.

"It represents the beginning of a formal process of canonical change. The church has been engaged in recent years in a series of discussions at all levels. The current process will enable the Church to come to a formal decision on the matter," Duncan said in a BBC report.

The seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church must now deliberate on the proposal following the approval by the General Synod. For the proposal to pass second reading, it needs to be supported by a majority of two-thirds among bishops, clergy and laity within the General Synod.

If it approves same-sex unions, the Church may face sanctions from the Anglican Communion, of which it is a member. Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, the secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, for instance, discouraged the Scottish Episcopal Church from approving gay "marriages."

"I would echo what the Archbishop of Canterbury said recently in Zimbabwe on same-sex marriage: There are differing views within the Anglican Communion, but the majority one is that marriage is the lifelong union of a man and woman. He also stressed our primates' opposition to the criminalisation of LGBTIQ people," he told BBC News.