France is set to become the latest nation to legalise same-sex marriage Tuesday, despite vocal opposition from conservatives, when legislation goes before lawmakers in the lower house for a final vote.
The bill, which would also give same-sex couples the right to adopt, was approved in the Senate earlier this month.
Since no amendments have been made during debate in the lower house, it will be the final vote on the legislation. The measure is expected to pass.
The left, which includes President Francois Hollande’s governing Socialist Party, dominates the National Assembly, where the bill was approved by a large majority in February on its first reading.
Hollande will have to sign the bill before it becomes law.
Opponents, including the Roman Catholic Church, other religious groups and social conservatives, still hope to block the measure by referring it to the Constitutional Court.
Protesters on Sunday joined the latest in a series of marches through Paris against the measure, and they have vowed to carry on the fight, CNN affiliate BFM-TV reported.
One of the groups behind the marchers has urged protesters to rally again Tuesday evening and is planning more demonstrations around the country next month.
In France, the heated debate over the same-sex marriage bill has coincided with a spike in reported incidents of homophobic abuse, the gay rights group SOS Homophobie told BFM-TV last week.
A gay bar in Lille was targeted Wednesday night by four men who appeared to belong to a far-right group, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Thursday, in a statement condemning the attack.
Valls also condemned violence that broke out Thursday evening at a march against same-sex marriage, when “organised groups” refused to disperse and clashed with police.
France is committed to upholding the right of all people to demonstrate peacefully, he said.
International debate
The expected passage of the divisive bill will admit France to a small but growing club.
Lawmakers in New Zealand last week made it the first country in the Asia Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage. The law is set to be enacted later this year.
Its move came a week after Uruguayan lawmakers approved a measure allowing same-sex marriage. The measure awaits the signature of Uruguay’s president, who has indicated he supports it.
If the laws in New Zealand, Uruguay and France are enacted as expected, the count of nations allowing same-sex marriage will rise to 14.
The first same-sex couples walked down the aisle in the Netherlands in 2001, with others following suit in Canada, South Africa, Belgium and Spain. Argentina was the first Latin American nation to legalize such marriages, in 2010.
Legislators in the United Kingdom are also weighing proposals to legalize same-sex marriage.
However, many countries remain split over the issue.
In the United States, the question went before the Supreme Court last month, and justices are now deliberating over the matter.
Nine states and the District of Columbia issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, including three states — Maryland, Washington, and Maine — where voters approved it in ballot initiatives last year.
Many states have specific laws blocking same-sex couples from legally marrying.
Lawmakers in Australia voted against a bill to legalize same-sex marriage last September. A poll for the advocacy group Australian Marriage Equality indicated that 64% of those surveyed “support marriage equality.”
A law legalising civil unions was introduced in 1999 in France under a previous Socialist government.
Known in France as the PACS, or pacte civil de solidarite, the civil union agreement can be entered into by same-sex or straight couples and confers many but not all of the rights of marriage.
Author: Laura Smith-Spark
Publication: CNN
Publication Date: April 23 2013