Tensions rise in French gay marriage debate
The furore surrounding a proposed gay marriage and adoption law has reached new heights, two days before it is due to be discussed in parliament. UMP deputies have have called for further discussion and a march in opposition is organised.
UMP deputy Laurent Wauquiez called on the government for more time to debate the draft law, claiming the law could be revoked if the UMP returned to power.
“If they force a law through, without discussion or compromise, a law which completely changes the notion of marriage and family, obviously we would have to go back on it,” he said in an interview with France 3 on Sunday.
“Tension around the draft law is being exacerbated because the government is not willing to debate it.”
An anti gay-marriage pressure group has called for a nation-wide protest on November 17, 10 days after the draft is to be presented in parliament.
The “Protest for All” movement, a play on the draft law’s title “marriage for all”, has announced marches in Rennes, Metz, Nantes, Dijon, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseilles, Toulouse and Paris, calling on protesters to dress in pink, white and blue.
The association says the march is to demonstrate the “dangerous and major disruption” the new law would bring. They say the state “would no longer recognised the two pillars of the human identity: different genders and affiliation” if the law was passed.
But despite fierce political opposition, a new poll published in daily paper Le Parisien reveals more than half the population is in favour of gay marriage and adoption.
Some 58 percent said they are for giving same sex couples the right to get married, while 50 percent said they should also have the right to adopt.
In a similar survey commissioned by the paper last year, 63 percent were for gay marriage and 56 percent for gay adoption rights.
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UMP deputy Laurent Wauquiez called on the government for more time to debate the draft law, claiming the law could be revoked if the UMP returned to power.
“If they force a law through, without discussion or compromise, a law which completely changes the notion of marriage and family, obviously we would have to go back on it,” he said in an interview with France 3 on Sunday.
“Tension around the draft law is being exacerbated because the government is not willing to debate it.”
An anti gay-marriage pressure group has called for a nation-wide protest on November 17, 10 days after the draft is to be presented in parliament.
The “Protest for All” movement, a play on the draft law’s title “marriage for all”, has announced marches in Rennes, Metz, Nantes, Dijon, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseilles, Toulouse and Paris, calling on protesters to dress in pink, white and blue.
The association says the march is to demonstrate the “dangerous and major disruption” the new law would bring. They say the state “would no longer recognised the two pillars of the human identity: different genders and affiliation” if the law was passed.
But despite fierce political opposition, a new poll published in daily paper Le Parisien reveals more than half the population is in favour of gay marriage and adoption.
Some 58 percent said they are for giving same sex couples the right to get married, while 50 percent said they should also have the right to adopt.
In a similar survey commissioned by the paper last year, 63 percent were for gay marriage and 56 percent for gay adoption rights.
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