PARIS – Following the French government’s approval of a bill to legalize equal marriage and allow gay couples to adopt thousands of demonstrators rallied at the National Assembly in Paris Wednesday evening to show support for the move.
According to a report on Pinknews.com, demonstrators chanted “equality now” to show their support for the reform, which was opposed by more than 1,000 mayors and France’s Catholic Church.
The bill will be debated by parliament in January 2013.
President Hollande told his cabinet that the bill would mean “progress not only for individuals but for the whole of society.”
According to a poll by Le Monde newspaper, 65 percent of French people supported equal marriage, and 52 percent of people supported the right of gay couples to adopt, however Nicolas Sarkozy’s opposition UMP party has said it would repeal the law if it returns to power.
Pinknews reported that UMP Sen. Serge Dassault told French Radio that same-sex marriage and adoption would be “the end of the family, the end of children’s development, the end of education. It’s an enormous danger to the nation.”
