French anti-gay marriage protters march to revive issue before polls | Rters

Contents:

• ELEGANT GAY ELOPEMENT PARIS AT THE EIFFEL TOWER
• FIRST GAY MARRIAGE CELEBRATED FRANCE
• FRANCE'S GAY MARRIAGE FIGHT
• MASS PARIS RALLY AGAST GAY MARRIAGE FRANCE
• HUGE ANTI-GAY-MARRIAGE PROTT MARCH PARIS
• FRENCH OPEN TO MARK 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF GAY MARRIAGE FRANCE WH ‘PRI DAY’ AT ROLAND GARROS
• 13% OF ALL MARRIAG PARIS LAST YEAR WERE GAY
• FRENCH ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE PROTTERS MARCH TO REVIVE ISSUE BEFORE POLLS
• FRANCE’S GAYS ARE ASSIATG. WHAT COM NEXT?

ELEGANT GAY ELOPEMENT PARIS AT THE EIFFEL TOWER

(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. 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.

Dpe support for the reform Montpellier, which boasts of beg France's most gay-iendly town, officials scrapped plans to broadst the weddg live on a giant TV screen and stead beamed live onle to the cy's webse. "Love each other, love , love one another, bee 's important, " said Aut om a balny to a crowd of hundreds of well-wishers outsi the cy hall, addg the next step would be a law allowg gay upl to adopt children. Backed by a slim majory of French and feted by gay men and lbians when me to force this month, a law makg France the 14th untry to allow same-sex marriage has triggered street protts by nservativ, Catholics and extreme right-wgers.

FIRST GAY MARRIAGE CELEBRATED FRANCE

" Frigi Barjot, a pk-clad edian who leads the anti-gay marriage movement, has urged her supporters to stay away om Wednday's weddg and exprsed ncern at right-wgers who have hurled bricks, bottl and firecrackers durg march. Earlier, French Interr Mister Manuel Valls pledged to toughen penalti for homophobic behavr, cg an crease the number of threats agast gay people on onle foms.

" Homosexualy, still a crime some 78 untri, has been legal France sce the Revolutn, and the age of nsent was lowered to that of heterosexual relatns 1981. Aut, 40, and Boile, 29, were the first gay uple to apply to marry as Print Hollan was phg through the law, which grants equal marriage and adoptn rights that go beyond existg l for civil partnerships. Sce then, ralli that are partly fuelled by anger at the ernment over other issu like the enomy appear to have erod support for the gay marriage law; now stands at 53 percent, wh 47 percent opposed, reflectg a ep natnal divisn, particularly over the adoptn rights clus.

FRANCE'S GAY MARRIAGE FIGHT

Last week, one opponent of gay marriage shot himself ad at the altar of Paris's Notre Dame thedral and on Sunday hundreds of thoands marched the pal to mand the law's repeal. 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.

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.

MASS PARIS RALLY AGAST GAY MARRIAGE FRANCE

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. 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.

HUGE ANTI-GAY-MARRIAGE PROTT MARCH PARIS

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.

)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. 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.

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

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. 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.

13% OF ALL MARRIAG PARIS LAST YEAR WERE GAY

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.

FRENCH ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE PROTTERS MARCH TO REVIVE ISSUE BEFORE POLLS

PARIS (AP) — French Open anizers will celebrate a “Pri Day” on Wednday to mark the 10th anniversary of the first same-sex marriage untry saw s first gay weddgs 2013 after then-Print Franis Hollan signed a law thorizg marriage and adoptn by same-sex upl, endg months of natnwi protts. Same-sex marriag have been legal France sce May 2013 spe signifint protts by the untry’s nservative the law was passed 18 months ago, some 2, 365 gay upl have tied the knot Paris, jt over 14 percent of the ’s INSEE natnal statistics office is due to publish natnwi same-sex marriage figur next week, but s 2013 figure shows the rt of the untry laggg far behd the pal at jt 3 percent of the Paris, the vast majory of gay marriag (72 percent) took place districts (arrondissements) wh Socialist mayors, and around a third were celebrated the 4th arrondissement, home to the historic and gay-iendly Marais well-heeled and nservative 16th arrondissement saw the lowt number of gay marriag at jt 6.

FRANCE’S GAYS ARE ASSIATG. WHAT COM NEXT?

Gay marriage and same-sex partnerships FranceFrench civil partnershipsThe legal requirements to get married FranceRequirements and rightsNecsary paperwork and documentatnPlanng your French weddg: step by stepChoose the lotnGather the paperwork and select a dateContact terers, entertaers, and gutsOn the dayThe st of gettg married FranceTop French weddg lotnsWeddg tradns and ctoms FranceRgsFoodSilly dancgSuperstnsDrkg om a chamber potRegnal tradnsUseful rourc. After a long, acrimon bate marked by street monstratns, vlent clash and a rise homophobic attacks, France fally passed a law legalisg same-sex marriag on May 17.

"In the se of an tend marriage between two people of the same sex, if one of the spo is a natnal of one of the untri, the state registrar shall not solemnise the marriage, " the statement 11 untri, which have signed agreements wh France, are mostly former Yugoslav republics, where gay marriage is prohibed.