By Connie Hong
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
PARIS, France — On June 1, 2012, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told radio station RMC and television station BFMTV that laws legalizing marriage and adoption for same-sex couples will soon be introduced to France. Ayrault did not specify when the bills would be presented to the French Senate. Whether a draft bill has been drawn up at this time is still unclear. The president of the Socialists’ Homosexualités et Socialisme, Gilles Bon-Maury, however, predicts that such a bill could be presented to Parliament before the fall of this year.
Ayrault, a member of the Socialist Party, was appointed as prime minister on May 15. Although the French National Assembly rejected a bill seeking to legalize same-sex marriage last year, the Socialist Party still plans on implementing measures that would introduce marriage equality to the country. In fact, France’s new Socialist President, Francois Hollande, made a similar pledge vowing to introduce gay marriage to the country by 2013. Hollande’s predecessor, Nicholas Sarkozy, was opposed to gay marriage.
Same-sex marriage is currently banned by law in France. Gay couples may enter into Civil Solidarity Pacts (PACS) but they do not provide the same legal protections and benefits that marriages offer. PACS, for example, do not give couples the right to joint adoption or artificial insemination.
The ban is highly controversial within the country, receiving much criticism from gay rights supporters. A French couple had challenged the ban on constitutional grounds, arguing that it limited their personal freedoms. In response to the claim, the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court of appeals, ordered the Constitutional Council to rule on the constitutionality of the law. Last year, the council found the country’s same-sex marriage ban constitutional. The council made clear that its power was limited to interpreting existing laws under the constitution, but that the legislature has the authority to make new laws allowing gay marriage.
France will be joining a growing number of European countries legalizing gay marriage if it goes through with its plans to introduce same-sex marriage. France’s neighbors Spain and Belgium, as well as Holland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Portugal have already introduced marriage equality. Other countries such as Denmark, Germany, Luxemburg, Finland and the United Kingdom have hinted that they also plan to approach the issue in the near future.
For further information, please see:
ATV Today — French Prime Minister Promises Equal Marriage Laws — 2 June 2012
Jurist — France PM: same-sex marriage, adoption laws to be introduced — 1 June 2012
Pink News — French prime minister: Equal marriage and adoption laws to be introduced ‘quickly’ — 1 June 2012
World Crunch — After Sarkozy’s Defeat, Will France Be Next To Legalize Gay Marriage? — 14 May 2012
