The parliament of Croatia moved to hold a referendum on whether to ban gay marriage.

Voters will decide the issue on December 1.

If a majority agreed that “marriage is matrimony between a man and a woman,” then Croatia's constitution will be amended to define marriage as a heterosexual union.

The ballot question won the support of two-thirds of the members of parliament in Croatia.

A petition in support of amending the constitution has received more than 700,000 signatures and was organized by the Catholic group In the Name of the Family.

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic has come out against the measure.

“The question is: Do we need this kind of a referendum? I think that determining marriage between a man add a woman does not belong in the constitution. A nation is judged by its attitude toward minorities,” Josipovic is quoted as saying by the AP.

Human rights groups opposed to the referendum as an infringement of basic human rights said they would file an appeal with the country's constitutional court.