Gays France: How gay marriage transformed the French gay rights movement.

Contents:

• FRANCE'S GAY MARRIAGE FIGHT
• HUGE ANTI-GAY-MARRIAGE PROTT MARCH PARIS
• MASS PARIS RALLY AGAST GAY MARRIAGE FRANCE
• FIRST GAY MARRIAGE CELEBRATED FRANCE
• FRANCE’S GAYS ARE ASSIATG. WHAT COM NEXT?
• 08 MAR 2013 FRANCE EMBRAC GAY MARRIAGE
• FRENCH OPEN TO MARK 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF GAY MARRIAGE FRANCE WH ‘PRI DAY’ AT ROLAND GARROS
• ‘NON’ TO ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE MARCH ON CHAMPS ELYSé

FRANCE'S GAY MARRIAGE FIGHT

This is more than before the adoptn of same-sex marriage when Insee unted an average of 5, 762 civil unns of homosexual upl per year (between 1999 and 2012). Persistent difficulti startg a fay The legalizatn of same-sex marriage has ma possible for married homosexual upl to adopt a child, whereas civil unns did not allow them to do so.

But this remas limed: Sce 2013, the Associatn of Gay and Lbian Parents (APGL) timat, based on s own cens and the rults of a number of surveys, that only 200 same-sex parentg fai have succeed adoptg (wards of the Natn and children born abroad clud). Try for ee This figure is nsistent wh that of a report by the French Mistry of Jtice, which unted, for the year 2018, only eighteen plenary adoptns by homosexual upl. Nilas Faget, a spokperson for the APGL, told Le Mon that homosexual upl faced difficulti foundg a fay: The procs is lengthy and adoptn is still forbidn some untri.

HUGE ANTI-GAY-MARRIAGE PROTT MARCH PARIS

(Rters) - Marchers filed through the French pal on Sunday to prott agast Print Franis Hollan’s plan to legalize gay marriage and is a timele on marriage and the rights of homosexuals France.

1995 - Sat Nazaire be the first cy to allow homosexuals to register as ncub, a legal ncept allowg limed shared rights for unmarried upl livg together. 2001 - Bertrand Delanoe, a Socialist who was one of the first French policians to publicly clare his homosexualy, is elected mayor of Paris. In November, the bet approv a draft law allowg same-sex marriage wh adoptn rights that will be prented to parliament on January 292013 - On January 13, Catholics, nservativ, Mlims, evangelils and homosexuals opposed to same-sex marriage march Paris the first major street prott agast Print Franis Hollan.

MASS PARIS RALLY AGAST GAY MARRIAGE FRANCE

Twenty years later, the cy elected s first openly gay mayor whose tenure was fed by ntent protts both for and agast the marriage equaly movement. Two weeks ago, French opponents of gay marriage and adoptn staged one of the biggt monstratns of popular feelg that the untry has seen 340, 000 people, acrdg to police, marched through central Paris to oppose a ernment bill that go before the Natnal Assembly on Tuday. This weekend some 125, 000 rallied Paris, police is the sle of the "manif pour to", agast gay marriage and adoptn, that took many outsi observers by surprise.

FIRST GAY MARRIAGE CELEBRATED FRANCE

But there are a uple of other factors pchFirst, the antis have n an telligent and media-savvy the start they regnised the dangers of beg seen as the twchg arm of reactnary they have ma sure they nstute a broad-based "cizens" movement, wh no formal lks to church or ptn, Observers have been surprised that so many people me out public opposn to gay marriageAnd their spokwoman - a performer who go by the psdonym Frigi Barjot - opponents of gay marriage have found a perfect antidote to charg that they are superannuated bigots.

A 50-year-old, blon-haired extrovert who scrib herself as an "anarchist of love", Barjot has bee a natnal figure recent weeks, wh nstant appearanc on rad and tak re at every terview to state that her arguments are not directed at gay people, but at the proposed law, as amed.

"If what was on offer were a law that further enshred rights for gay upl, that enriched their unns, and got rid of the discrimatns and jtic that undoubtedly still exist - then I would support , " she says. Everybody affectedThe other reason why gay marriage has provoked such a powerful bate France has to do wh the nature of the untry's is practilly unique Europe makg obligatory, for upl who marry, to do so a civil ceremony, wh potential jail terms for prits who nduct a relig ceremony other untri, prits, rabbis or imams who rry out weddgs are also actg as civil officials, and the marriage nducted church, synagogue or mosque is duly registered ptn, "We read the Bible gaily": gay marriage supporters at a march StrasbourgThis is the se other "Catholic" untri like Spa and Portugal, which have recently adopted gay marriage. Ined the absence of long-lastg ntroversy over the issue Spa and Portugal is often adduced as an argument by supporters of gay marriage France.

FRANCE’S GAYS ARE ASSIATG. WHAT COM NEXT?

However - as a study by the liberal French thk-tank the Thomas More Foundatn has noted - Spa and Portugal people who oppose gay marriage n ntue to get married church, ntent wh the feelg that "their" marriage has nothg to do wh the civil one anised by the state and now open to gay France, there n be no such separatn. The civil marriage France is pulsory, and so if there is a change the civil on marriage, affects, this may help expla why so many people feel so strongly about the antis have certaly been embolned by the succs of their 13 January Friday they were received at the Elysee Palace, where they rtated to Print Hollan their sistence that the issue be put to a argue that to extend full-blown marriage to gay people is to play sorcerer's apprentice wh the most important buildg-block of say that the right to gay adoptn will remove om children the fundamental right to have a father and a mother. However for all the sprg their stri, opponents of gay marriage are also aware that their chanc of blockg France's law are small at reason is that gay marriage was clearly prented Print Hollan's electn manifto last May.

The French people nnot argue that has been foisted upon them ptn, The BBC's Hugh Schofield: "The march anisers do not want to be typest as homophobic"And for the print - who is unr prsure on the enomic ont for not beg sufficiently left-wg - stickg to gay marriage is a eful way of burnishg his progrsive the bigger reason why the anti movement will have difficulty buildg on their momentum is that gay marriage is actually supported by most of the is not a huge majory, but polls are nsistent showg that around 55-60% believe is the right thg to do.

08 MAR 2013 FRANCE EMBRAC GAY MARRIAGE

)Over the weekend, monstratns took place Paris and across France support of the ernment's the arguments favour of gay marriage got their outg: that is a logil exprsn of equaly; that is jt; that there is no evince of leadg to a breakdown society; that children brought up by gay upl are perfectly happy; that such children already exist by the tens of thoand so need legal regnn; that heterosexual marriage is hardly sacrosanct when so many end divorce, and when so many children are born out of a young woman lled Magali at Sunday's monstratn Paris put : "When I see the people who prott agast gay marriage, I am jt so disappoted for France.

FRENCH OPEN TO MARK 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF GAY MARRIAGE FRANCE WH ‘PRI DAY’ AT ROLAND GARROS

The French parliament has approved a bill legalisg same-sex marriage and adoptn, followg a divisive public be the 14th untry to pass a law allowg gay marriage, and follows New Zealand last week. Opponents of the move have staged some of the biggt protts seen France years, though polls suggt a small majory favour of gay marriage. On Saturday 50 people were taed for blockg the same-sex marriage bill, which also legalis gay adoptn, was signed to law by Print Franis Hollan last week, after months of heated bate.

On Tuday, a far-right historian shot himself ad Notre Dame thedral, leavg msag which he nounced gay Sunday's protts, monstrators head lumns om a number of pots Paris to the Invalis ptn, Clash broke out after the ma monstratn fishedSome marchers drove donkeys, one of which bore a plard which read: "I am an ass. Opposn to gay marriage has bee nflated wh all sorts of other anti-ernment grievanc g om the right and the atmosphere the untry is particularly volatile, the BBC's Hugh Schofield is now the nth untry Europe, and 14th globally, to legalise gay on this story.

Media ptn, The BBC's Hugh Schofield: "The march anisers do not want to be typest as homophobic"Hundreds of thoands of protters have taken to the streets of Paris over plans to give gay upl France the right to marry and adopt big march nverged on the Champs Mars, a large park next to the Eiffel 's Socialist ernment is planng to change the law this year. A siar march November attracted around 100, 000 "Demo for all" event was beg led by a charismatic edian known as Frigi Barjot, who tweeted that the "crowd is immense" and told French TV that gay marriage "mak no sense" bee a child should be born to a man and woman. Image ptn, Four topls femist activists staged a prott St Peter's Square favour of gay rightsCentre-right UMP Print Jean-Franis Cope said the rally would be a "tt" for the print bee there were "clearly lns of French people who are probably ncerned by this reform" far-right Natnal Front is also opposed to the change, although s lear Mare Le Pen stayed away om the march, argug the issue was a diversn by policians om France's real problems.

‘NON’ TO ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE MARCH ON CHAMPS ELYSé

Dpe the support of the Church and polil right, the anisers are keen to strs their movement is non-polil and non-relig, and no way directed agast homosexuals, BBC Paris rrponnt Hugh Schofield opn poll of almost 1, 000 people published by Le Nouvel Observatr newspaper at the weekend suggted that 56% supported gay marriage, while 50% disapproved of gay adoptn. Earlier polls had dited stronger support for the legalisatn of gay the marchers began arrivg the centre of Paris, four Ukraian activists staged their own prott St Peter's Square the Vatin support of gay women om femist group Femen appeared topls while Pope Benedict reced his tradnal Angel prayer. The anti-gay marriage movement, Manif Pour To (or Prott For All), mounted a fierce mpaign agast the measure, at one pot claimg to have drawn 1.

Olr men (over 45 at the time of marriage) are overreprented among gay upl, whereas among lbian upl, the 25-34 age group is highly overreprented. In this nnectn, and spe the fact that fewer lbians than gay men ially cid to get married (lbians acunted for nearly 40% of same-sex marriag 2013), the number of female upl has been risg over time and 2017 was slightly higher than the number of male upl.