Tag Archives: Jean-Marc Ayrault

French gay couples get right to ‘marry, adopt children’

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Gay couples in France will be allowed to get married and to adopt children as of 2013, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has announced in parliament.

The announcement was part of a keynote speech outlining the new Socialist government’s five-year plan.

It confirms an election pledge made by President Francois Hollande.

A number of European nations including Germany, Sweden and Britain already allow gay adoption.

At present only married couples – not civil union partners – can adopt in France.

“In the first half of 2013, the right to marriage and adoption will be open to all couples, without discrimination,” Mr Ayrault told parliament.

“Our society is evolving, lifestyles and mentalities are changing. The government will respond to that.”

He announced the news during a keynote speech outlining the government’s budget and political agenda.

Symbolic gesture

Gays in France make up 6.5% of the electorate, compared with practising Catholics at 4.5%, according to figures released by pollster Ifop.

A survey carried out at the beginning of the year showed 63% of French people are in favour of gay marriage while 56% support gay adoption.

The confirmation of the new law came only days after Paris held its annual Gay Pride parade, which this year was buoyed by the new goverment’s promise to legalise gay marriage and adoption rights.

In a symbolic gesture, French Minister for Families Dominique Bertinotti turned out to see the parade floats set off.

European nations allowing gay adoption include Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Britain.

via BBC News .

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Paris Gay Pride buoyed by promise of gay marriage law

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Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe (C) marches in the Gay Pride in Paris

Always colourful and raucous, the annual Gay Pride parade in Paris on Saturday was further buoyed by the promise of France’s new Socialist government to legalise gay marriage and adoption rights.

“This is a special parade because it is the first time we have a government, a president, a parliament who are in favour of progress,” said Nicolas Gougain, spokesman for the the gay rights group Inter-LGBT.

Organisers were expecting record levels of attendance from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual) community at the parade heading from Montparnasse to the iconic Place de la Bastille.

Symbolically, French Minister for Families Dominique Bertinotti turned out to see the floats set off.

“I go everywhere where the future of the family is at stake,” she said, adding that “every bit of social progress benefits society as a whole”.

Bertinotti said she was “confident” the law “would be passed in 2013”.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said ahead of the march on Friday that “the right to marriage and adoption for all would be put in place” during President Francois Hollande’s five-year mandate, but did not specify the date.

-full report at AFP

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French prime minister: Equal marriage and adoption laws to be introduced ‘quickly’

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The French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told a French television station this morning a change in legislation to allow gay couples to marry and adopt children will be done ‘quickly’ and that a draft is ‘ready’.

According to French news website Yagg.com, M Ayrault told radio station RMC and TV station BFMTV this morning that the measures would be implemented soon.

It was not clear whether the prime minister meant a draft bill had been drawn up, but the site reported remarks made by Gilles Bon-Maury, the president of the Socialists’ Homosexualités et Socialisme faction that such a bill could be presented to Parliament for discussion “before the autumn”.

Pink News

(This statement in a radio interview largely repeats a commitment made in a government communique, within days of taking office).

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