Same Sex Marriage WIns Vote in France

[MacShreach]

According to agency reports:

'The (French) National Assembly on Tuesday voted 331-225 to give final approval to marriage equality legislation. It faces a review by the country’s Constitutional Council, and then goes to President Francois Hollande for his signature. Support for same-sex marriage was part of Hollande’s 2012 campaign platform.'

Great news and well done everyone who pushed for this. The opposition from the religious/fanatical right was often preplanned, co-ordinated violence, in a direct attempt to prevent the Government enacting a popularly-supported measure. It's good to see it got nowhere. The margin of the vote is much bigger than many had expected, meaning there will be no further issues.

[Bribi]

Yep, great news.
Was not easy and there still was a lot of protesting. I still don't get in what it will change people (not homosexuals) lives. Won't hurt them.

[MacShreach]

Yep, great news.
Was not easy and there still was a lot of protesting. I still don't get in what it will change people (not homosexuals) lives. Won't hurt them.

You're right, it wasn't easy politically, but in all honesty I think the opposition was very cleverly organised by the religious and political right to make it seem much stronger than it ever really was. The fact that the vote was so overwhelmingly in favour pretty much reflects the French grass-roots opinion, which was always reported by polls to be largely in favour, right up to the last couple of months. The opposition was noisy and sometimes nasty and violent, but still a minority.

Good news, though. Even though the Pacte Civile had basically given all rights that opposite-sex married couples have to same-sex partners for over ten years, this is a great step in recognising the legitimacy of homsexual and transsexual love.

[luketamara]

Great news! I can't understand why it has taken so long.

[Ecstatic]

Yay! That I think makes 9 EU countries legalizing same sex marriage (France, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands), along with 3 American countries (Canada, Argentina, and Uruguay), South Africa, and New Zealand, along with 9 US states and political subdivisions of some other countries like Mexico and Brazil. Progress!

[robertlouis]

I'm hoping that the UK government holds its nerve and delivers as well.

But here's a question for the 'merkins. Gay marriage is surely a matter of basic human equality. Should it therefore be a federal issue rather than down to individual states' discretion? Am I stirring it? Yes! But I hope you see my point.

Generations in the future will wonder why.

[Ecstatic]

I'm hoping that the UK government holds its nerve and delivers as well.

But here's a question for the 'merkins. Gay marriage is surely a matter of basic human equality. Should it therefore be a federal issue rather than down to individual states' discretion? Am I stirring it? Yes! But I hope you see my point.

Generations in the future will wonder why.

Exactly. Marriage is a civil rights issue, and the civil rights of a minority should never be subject to the tyranny of the majority. Therefore it should a) not be a states' rights issue but rather a federal issue, and b) it should be axiomatic that all couples hold the same self-evident truths. If this were not the case, bi-racial marriages could still be illegal.

That said, if it does come to states' rights, then DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) is inherently unconstitutional as the federal government should honor those areas where states' rights supercede federal law: that is, if a couple is legally married under the laws of their state, the federal government must accept that marriage as legal and binding and not impose restrictions such as forcing said couples to file income tax separately not jointly (along with some 1,200 other federal restrictions).