Break Out the Champagne! Marriage Equality is Coming to France

Champagne is in order — not just bubbly wine, actual Champagne (TM). Last night I was out for dinner and a singular email made me drop my naan bread to turn to my girlfriend. Normally I wouldn’t sully my naan for anything, let alone French Parliament proceedings, but this time was different. “Gay Marriage in France! It’s-a-happening!”

On Tuesday evening, France’s lower house finally voted on Bill 344. The Marriage for All draft bill has been making its way through Parliament since November but for many worried citizens, it didn’t look like it would survive. The promised bill was posed to open up the definition of family, granting queer citizens the same familial rights afforded to their heterosexual counterparts. The underlying change from “husband and wife” to “spouses” passed 249-97 on February 2nd. However, the controversial issue of assisted procreation was dropped to appease conservative deputies and as of last week, it was still undecided whether adoption rights were still a possibility. After 5000 amendments by the opposition and countless manifestations put on by allies and opponents alike, the deputies had their vote: 329-229. Gay marriage and adoption? On les a! The times they are a-changing.

via AFP

via AFP

At its heart, the law is supposed to unite families instead of pushing them apart. Leading up the vote, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault reassured, “This law is going to extend to all families the protections guaranteed by the institution of marriage. Contrary to what those who vociferate against it say – fortunately they’re in the minority – this law is going to strengthen the institution of marriage.”

The Catholic church has been a major part of this very vocal minority, with religious figureheads decrying the immoral future that lies before children of homosexual households. They have taken part in countless conservative manifestations throughout the country, but even in century old institutions like the church, there are people willing to break their silence. Elie Gafray, a retired Catholic priest and current mayor recognized the paradox he’s living. Even though he will abide by Catholic law, he supports gay rights and will marry gays and lesbians as the mayor of Ereac. Speaking to the media and his bishop, he notes that the church is behind the times. “If gay marriage is adopted it suggests the French state is more open to homosexuals than the church. And that bothers me.” He’s received countless letters from citizens, the majority of which applaud him for representing a modernized viewpoint.

VIA Nataly

VIA Nataly

Thankfully he isn’t the only one. More people are willing to open up and cross over party lines and vote for what they feel is right instead of what they’re told is right. Roselyne Bachelot, a right-wing politician and former minister under Sarkozy spoke of her support earlier this month.

I’ve been fighting for equal rights for heterosexual and homosexual couples for forty years. I remember very well when we were trying to promote civil unions several years ago…there were only four or five of us (politicians). We went to go see right and left-wing politicians who said: ‘What is this? But we got through to them and we won, and  we’ve seen more and more people joining our fight. And we will continue.

The clear win by 100 votes in the lower house just shows how many people have joined that fight. Justice Minister Christiane Taubira spoke after Tuesday’s vote, giving an impassioned speech in her signature style combining humour and poetry. She reminded her fellow MPs that the game of love will still exist for France’s citizens and their orientation has nothing to do with it.

There will still be plenty of women to look at you, gentlemen, to observe you, to try and see the tenderness that sometimes exists behind your carapaces, to try to break through the faults that are sometimes hiding behind your affable exteriors and to discern the interlacing of your talents and your weaknesses if you are able to forge paths through the sea, as Antonio Machado.

This bill brought us to think of others, brought us to acknowledge otherness. And otherness, as the philosopher Lévinas said, “is derived from our indestructible sense of empathy.”

Despite being dropped from this bill, the debate for medically assisted procreation continues. Mere hours after the lower house vote, Taubira noted in an interview that this issue is “a legitimate claim for lesbian couples … but that it is a heavy topic that should be dealt with separately.” Given that it is decidedly more controversial, it’s also less likely to receive full support from the majority Socialist government. A high ranking Socialist party member was quoted saying “Hollande knows that MPAs (Medically Assisted Procreation) is what divides the left and unifies the right. If he really had wanted to amend the law regarding MPAs, he would have had Jean-Marc Ayrault include it in the text of the Marriage for All Bill.”  For now, it’s off the table so the rest of the bill can pass. MPA has been submitted to the Nationale Ethics Council, and will be put forward as a separate bill toward the end of the year. If not, then Hollande may hold off and say it isn’t time.

So even if it’s still early and Hollande may not be able to follow through on all of his campaign promises, some queer citizens are already breathing a sigh of relief with this news. Queer couples have to wait until April 2nd for the bill to go through Senate, but they might be able to set their wedding date for this summer. Even if some right wing politicians might try to put a few more constitutional roadblocks in the bill’s way, ultimately there doesn’t seem to be much that can get in the way of the text put forward by the National Assembly which the Socialist Party has majority control over. For now the approval of Bill 344 is a partial victory, but a poignant victory nonetheless.

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Kristen

Hailing from Vancouver, Kristen's still trying to figure out how to survive Montreal's Real Legitimate Canadian Winter. So far she's discovered that warm socks, giant toques and Tabby kittens all play a role in her survival. Her ultimate goal is to rank higher than KStew in the "Kristen + Autostraddle" Google Search competition.

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12 Comments

  1. At least!

    At some point I thought this law would never be accepted.
    I live in Paris and the protest against “mariage for everyone” (le mariage pour tous) went down in my very own street. There were so much people, with their kids, it made me feel very sad.
    I think the true problem is not mariage it’s homophobia. All this situation started a lot of debate (across all the country) about homosexuality itself, and it was not pretty.
    During the holidays I saw a friend of mine arguing with her family about the law of same sex mariage and I was horrified. I mean those people are decent people, good parents, good workers but hearing them telling things like “homosexuals people are not normal and they are a really small minority, we should discuss more important things” or “a child needs a dad and a mom, that’s all” made me cringe. This thing about mariage awakened “sleeping homophobic people” I mean the ones who “tolerate” homosexuality if the gays stay hidden and don’t ask for rights. I was shocked to hear from some of my friends “I understand why people are worried”, sorry but I don’t! It’s not their problem, I don’t care if a heterosexual man or woman who have never met a gay person is “worried” about my right to marry.

    But all in all I’m glad, I was at the protests and a lot, lot of people was there too. So many gays but heterosexuals too, old people, young people, politicians, I even met an old friend of mine from high school with her boyfriend! I feel like I accomplished my citizen duty being there, and my parents too, I remember my mom calling me on the phone “- Did you go to the protest? – Yes mom. – Good!”.

    Well, sorry I kind of told my life, I hope it wasn’t too boring, it’s just that I have the feeling, since I’ve been prosteting and all , it’s a little bit of my own victory too :)

    P-S: I am so, so sorry for my poor english, I hope you understood me.

    • All understood – no worries there. And good to get an insight from someone actually living in Paris – wonderful post :)

    • Hi Alice,
      Loved your post. Congratulations on the good news and your part in achieving it!

      At last, indeed!

  2. While staying optimistic, I am holding off on the champagne until the senate has confirmed it.

    The left has a slim majority in the senate and after watching homophobe “philosophers” speaking to a senate committee yesterday I wanted to vomit.

    I appreciate you pointing out the Catholics who support it, I took a cellphone photo of an older man at the last Nantes protest who was wearing a sign that said “Like 43% of Catholics, I support gay marriage”. Maybe not a majority and not sure where he got that statistic, but it’s nice to have their voice heard as well!

    • ps. the deputé for my area is green party and won my heart completely with his speech last week, so for you Francophones out there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_nEDDIHBtg (ignore the person who posted it and their nonsense)

      I liked him already but that was mostly because I kept misreading his name as François de Rugby instead of de Rugy.

  3. >RachelwasHere: I agree with you, it’s not done yet.
    But even if the Sénat rejects the law we will go again on protests, until they approuve it. It’s amazing to see how people who are not usually implicated in gay rights or politics in general are going down in the streets to support this law. Of course, sadly, the opponent do the same…
    An other reason for holding off the champagne is that the PMA (insemination) is not included in the law project. But I think this is a different problem. A lot of my friends are against it but not just for lesbians, they are against it for everyone. But in the other hand they are 100% for the adoption to be open to same sex couples. On this topic, I think people need a real debate.

    P-S: thank you for some of your lovelly replies, Austostraddle is such a friendly space.

Comments are closed.