Tag: France

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Former French President Sarkozy Calls For Repeal Of Marriage Equality

Nicholas Sarkozy, the former president of France, has called for the repeal of same-sex marriage in France.

It’s worth noting that Sarkozy has been married three times (sanctity of marriage my ass…), and in July of this year was arrested and charged with corruption on allegations that he interfered with an investigation seeking to prove that he “received up to €50 million in illegal campaign financing from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.”

Just the kind of person you want to represent you and your concerns, right?

Sarkozy is campaigning to lead the opposition centre-right UMP party and is expected to run again for president in 2017.

Referring to the “mariage pour tous” or “marriage for all” legislation passed by France’s Socialist government last year, he said it needed “rewriting from top to bottom”.

Sarkozy also opposes surrogate parenthood for gay couples which is currently illegal in France.

The former president has been critical of same-sex marriage in the past saying it was “humiliating families and humiliating people who love the family”, but it is the first time he has called for its repeal.

A recent Ifop poll shows 68% of respondents supported same-sex unions and 53% supported adoption by same-sex couples, which is illegal in France.

(source)

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Gay couples married by Belgian mayor via Google Hangouts

From the folks at Google:

Google Hangouts is a unique technology allowing 10 people to be on a video call simultaneously.

We wanted to put Google +’s hangouts at the service of a greater cause – the most debated issue in France at the time: same-sex marriage.

We partnered with the association “Tous Unis Pour l’Egalité” and created the first social same-sex marriage.

We made it possible for French gay couples to get married in France via Hangout, with a Mayor from Belgium where same-sex marriage is law. The ceremony was witnessed online by family and friends and broadcasted live on YouTube for the whole world to see.

Since then, the law has passed in France. It’s now possible for same sex couples to marry in France. But we still have a long way to go as we take this initiative further than France.

If your country is still deliberating the Bill and the Law is not yet passed, please be in touch with us : mariage@tousunispourlegalite.com and we will marry you, from France, live on the Internet via Google Hangouts.

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Mayor in France refuses to marry gay couple

From the Advocate: A mayor in southwestern France refused to marry a gay couple Friday, defying the nation’s newly enacted marriage equality law. But the mayor would consider marrying two women, reports France’s English-language news source The Local.

Claude Binaud, the 77-year-old six-term mayor of Matha, reportedly told Bernard Rouhaud and his partner that he would not issue a marriage license to the couple.

“There’s no doubt, I will not marry them, not two boys,” Binaud told local daily paper Sud-Ouest. “I don’t find [gay marriage] normal. We’re touching on something central to society here — the family.”

But that concern for family is apparently what led the mayor to speculate that he might marry two women, if he were forced to do so.

“Two girls, I might have said yes, if my back was against the wall,” continued Binaud. “But that’s totally different — they can have children.”

Binaud suggested that a town councillor officiate at Rouhaud’s wedding August 3, reports The Local.

But that compromise might not be good enough for national authorities, as France’s interior minister, Manuel Valls, warned mayors last week that anyone refusing to marry same-sex couples will find themselves in violation of the new law, which took effect May 30. Valls was responding to reports that a mayor from another southwestern town had refused to officiate a gay couple’s wedding, and noted that state officials who refuse to marry same-sex couples could face up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 Euros for their discriminatory practice that’s at odds with nationwide law.

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Tour de France to be targeted by anti-gay marriage protest

The anti-gay marriage activists are not going away.

Their new target?  The Tour de France.

The Local reports:

“From June 29th to July 21st, we will have an incredible global visibility  to show our fight against the law,” read a statement on a new Facebook page created to inspire protesters to line the 3,360-kilometre route.

And while the first stage of the race will get rolling on the island of Corsica, the remaining 20 stages will cover well near every corner of mainland France, offering protestors across the country the chance to snatch a bit of prime-time coverage.

Their Facebook page implored would-be demonstrators to send private messages with points on the route they would consider protesting at, giving the impression that the ‘Tour Pour Tous’ (Tour for all) will try to organize as wide a coverage of the famous event as possible.

The page also launched the hashtag #tourpourtous to prompt users on the social media site Twitter to rally to the protesters’ defence. By Wednesday, proponents and opponents alike had begun using the keyword to trade jibes.

Anti-gay activists have already targeted the French Open with a flaming protester.

(source)

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France: Government moves to disband anti-gay marriage group after murder

On Saturday French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault ordered the Revolutionary National Front (JNR in French) to disband following the allegations that the group was somehow involved in the death of pro-gay protester Clement Meric.

The JNR is the militant wing of a far-right group called the Third Way.

Its leader Serge Ayoub, who has been questioned by police but is not a suspect, on Saturday again denied the group had anything to do with the death of 18-year-old Clement Meric.

Meric, a student at the prestigious Sciences-Po university, died after a clash in a busy Paris shopping area on Wednesday between skinheads and left-wing activists.

Five people detained over the death went before a judge on Saturday and Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the main suspect, named Esteban, was being investigated on suspicion of murder. The five suspects are aged between 19 and 32 and include one woman. Interior Minister Manuel Valls on Friday vowed to crack down on far-right groups.

Several members of the group, which marched in the most recent Manif Pour Tous protest against gay marriage, are alleged to have murdered 18 year-old pro-gay activist Clement Meric.

(from JMG)

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France’s first gay married couple honeymoon in Tel-Aviv

As Gay Pride kicks off in Tel Aviv, France’s first gay married couple, Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau, are clearly enjoying life while honeymooning in ‘the White City.”

From the Times of Israel:

On Friday morning, after spending the night at the seaside mansion of French Ambassador Christophe Bigot, Autin and Boileau arrived at Tel Aviv’s Gan Meir for a morning of music and speeches before the annual Pride Parade.

“France has voted for the law of love,” Autin, a 40-year-old gay rights activist, told a group of reporters who gathered to greet him and his new spouse. “For us it’s very important to be a bridge, especially here in the Middle East, so that what’s happened in France, and the way we are received and embraced here, can become an example for the rest of the Middle East.”

Congratulations to the happy couple! More wine!

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First gay wedding in France today

The media (and a whole lot of police) descend upon the French city of Montpellier today as the country looks to its first same-sex wedding:

The first gay wedding in France on Wednesday will be anything but a private and quiet affair. Echoing months of acrimonious debate over a same-sex marriage law that was approved by lawmakers in April, the historic nuptials were set to feature partisan politics, security concerns and frenzied media coverage.

Frigide Barjot, a stand-up comedian who has led France’s anti-gay marriage movement, has urged opponents of the law to stay away from Wednesday’s wedding. But organisers and local police were taking no chances, beefing up security around the mayor’s office and keeping riot police on standby.

Up to 100 police officers were put on the wedding’s security detail, with another 80 gendarmes ready to back them up, according to the local police prefect’s office.

The civil ceremony that will unite Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau was moved to a special room in Montpellier’s City Hall to accommodate the more than 500 guests – less than half of whom were actually family or friends of the couple.

Scheduled to start at 5:30pm, the wedding will be presided by Montpellier mayor Hélène Mandroux, a Socialist, and will be broadcast live on the city government’s website.

Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau

(via JMG)

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Paris: Anti-gay marriage protests end in violence

A large protest in France by opponents of the country’s new marriage equality law turned violent on Sunday.

Paris police estimate 150,000 demonstrators marched along three different routes before converging in the sprawling plaza along the Seine River. While mainly peaceful, at the end of the rally several hundred of the protesters became violent.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said on Monday that police had made a total of 350 arrests, and that 36 people had been injured: 34 police officers, one AFP photojournalist and one protester. Valls blamed the “extreme right” for the violence.

“These incidents were provoked by several hundred individuals, most from the extreme right and the (nationalist) Bloc Identitaire, who violently attacked police,” he added.

On May 18, French President Francois Hollande signed into law a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt. The signing came a day after France’s top court, the Constitutional Council, ruled that the bill adheres to the constitution.

(source)

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Dominique Venner, french anti-gay marriage activist, leaves suicide note behind

The suicide note left near the alter of Notre Dame Cathredral by anti-gay marriage activist Dominique Venner has been released:

“I believe it is necessary to sacrifice myself to break with the lethargy that is overwhelming us. I am killing myself to awaken slumbering consciences.”

According to JoeMyGod, Venner’s suicide remains headline news across France today.

However, the ruling Socialist Party has issued a denouncement of his action.  Party head Harlem Desir: “The bill has been approved and opponents of marriage for everyone need to understand that it is now the law of the republic.”

(via JMG)