Same-sex marriage and adoptions are now legal in France.
French President Francois Hollande signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage and adoptions on Saturday morning, “ending months of nationwide protests and wrenching debate” in the European country. France is now the 14th nation in the world to have legalized same-sex marriage, and the “most populous country to have legal gay marriages.” The debate over the legislation in the French Parliament, “exposed a deep conservatism and attachment to traditional families in France’s rural core that is often eclipsed by and at odds with libertine Paris,” reports the Associated Press.
But mostly, it tapped into deep discontent with the Socialist government, largely over Hollande’s handling of the economy. Months of anti-gay marriage protests became a flashpoint for frustrations with Hollande, and occasionally degenerated into violence.
In addition, gay rights groups reported a rise in attacks on homosexuals as the parliamentary debate was under way.
According to the opposition, a protest is planned for May, 26, which “aims to parlay the success of the anti-gay marriage movement into a broader anti-Hollande one.” But the President has warned that he will not “accept any disruption of France’s first gay marriages.”
Despite the massive protests and outbreaks of violence, the marriage equality measure was passed through both houses of parliament quite easily. The French Constitutional Council also made a statement which said, “Marriage as a union between a man and a woman cannot be considered a fundamental principle.”
French law states that “couples must register to marry in city hall and wait at least 10 days before holding a ceremony so that anyone objecting to the union—such as an existing spouse—has time to intervene,” but the first gay marriages are expected to be performed within the next few weeks.