Opponents of gay marriage France have waged a more effective mpaign than many expected but may be fightg a losg battle, the BBC's Hugh Schofield reports.
Contents:
- FRANCE'S GAY MARRIAGE FIGHT
- MARIAGE GAY EN FRANCE : TOUT L S PRATIQU
- 08 MAR 2013 FRANCE EMBRAC GAY MARRIAGE
FRANCE'S GAY MARRIAGE FIGHT
* gay mariage france *
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.
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. Supporters of gay marriage have staged their own shows of strength, and believe they have public opn on their si. 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.
MARIAGE GAY EN FRANCE : TOUT L S PRATIQU
"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.
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.
08 MAR 2013 FRANCE EMBRAC GAY MARRIAGE
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.
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.
Qui porte le nom dans un mariage homosexuel? Le 17 mai 2013, la loi a évolué en favr du mariage pour to et permet jourd'hui x personn homosexuell se marier civilement, même tre que n'importe quel uple. La France t le 9ème pays ropéen à avoir torisé le mariage homosexuel et le 14ème dans le mon.