Debate, Protests Mark Legalization of Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ in France

The new law allows same-sex couples to receive medical treatment for artificial procreation and adopt children.

Le Grande Armee gathered in the streets of Paris on March 24.
Le Grande Armee gathered in the streets of Paris on March 24. (photo: La Manif Pour Tous)

PARIS — After months of debate and massive protests, the National Assembly in France passed President Francois Hollande’s “marriage for all” bill into law on April 23.

With 331 votes in favor to the 225 votes against, the lower house approved Hollande’s draft law, which now legalizes same-sex “marriage,” allows same-sex couples to receive medical treatment for artificial procreation and adopt children.

This vote comes after months of protests, which saw unprecedented crowds taking to the streets on several occasions to condemn the bill.

Opponents say they have no plans to end the protests.

One group, La Manif Pour Tous (March for All), has organized many of the events and reported more than 1.4 million participants at the March 24 rally in Paris to protest Hollande’s measure.

The group argues that the now-law effort is “profoundly discriminatory” towards children, since those adopted by two men or two women will, by law, no longer have a mother and father, but a “Parent 1” and “Parent 2.”

“(Children) will be deprived of half their origins,” the group said in a statement on its website. “It paves the way for a new, ‘social’ parentage unrelated to human reality. It creates a framework for a new anthropological order founded not on sex but on gender, that is, sexual preference.”

Last week, a group representing 14,900 French mayors said they would refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples, while some even said they would resign if the measure passed.