French Cabinet Advances Gay Marriage Bill despite Conservatives’ Opposition
In Paris, the French cabinet approved a draft bill legalizing same-sex marriage on Wednesday. Leading up to this there were weeks of loud opposition from religious figures and the political right. President Francois Hollande promised to legalize same-sex marriages. The bill is expected to pass sometime early next year because Mr. Hollande and his Socialist Party have a majority in both houses of Parliament. The draft is intended to redefine marriage to stipulate that it is “contracted between two persons of different sex or the same sex,” and the words “father” and “mother” in existing legislation are replaced by “parents.” This bill will allow children to be adopted by married gay couples as well. Christiane Taubira has told the conservative newspaper that as a response to “a demand for equality” the government is calling it “marriage for all.”
This move has not been an easy one. It has caused uproar of controversial. According to opinion polls, French support gay marriage, however half do not believe that gays should be able to adopt. Serge Dassault, an influential senator from the center-right Union for a Popular Movement said that the bill represented “the end of the family, the end of children’s development, the end of education.” He also called it “an enormous danger to the nation. However, Dominique Bertinotti stated that is was legal protection.
All of this happened a day after Maine and Maryland became the first American states to approve same-sex marriage in a popular vote. “Also on Tuesday, Spain’s highest court upheld that country’s law allowing same-sex marriage seven years after it was passed and after more than 21,000 same-sex couples had married.” If the French bill passes, it will be the 12th country to make its marriage laws gender neutral.
This is a global issue that affects families everywhere. Globally, people are fighting for equal rights to marry who they want and to have the same benefits as heterosexual couples. This however will change the way in which families have looked for generations and will change families globally. The fight for equal rights has been an issue for decades and has slowly started to make progress. Females and African Americans have made progress but are still fighting for equal rights. I believe that even though gays and lesbians are starting to get equal rights in different areas, it is going to take years before they fully experience equal rights if it ever happens. Even if they do have rights to marry in Paris, it doesn’t mean they will gain rights to adopt. According to recent statistics, children raised with gay or lesbian parents do not differ compared to those raised with heterosexual parents so this should not make a difference. The fight to have full equal rights and not just within marriage is something that will still have to be fought even if this bill passes.
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