Masses March in Paris in Opposition of Gay Marriage, by Kerry Lear, 10/18/16
Tens of
thousands joined together on Sunday to march in Paris against the same-sex
marriage law.
The protest
organization, ManifpourTous said that 200,000 joined the march, while the
police gave the much lower figure of 24,000.
Nonetheless,
the thousands of protesters covered a lot of ground and ended up at Trocadero
Plaza, near the Eiffel Tower.
Police said 13
people were arrested, including six topless women from Femen, an activist
group. Some of these women had "Hate is not a family value" printed
on their chests.
The focus of
the march wasn’t only on the opposition of same-sex marriage, but also in
protest of assisted reproduction techniques and surrogate mothers who offer
same-sex couples babies. Some protesters held up signs expressing opposition of
this that said “women’s wombs are not for sale.”
Currently,
assisted reproduction is only available for infertile heterosexual couples and
surrogacy is not allowed.
The march
campaign signage was blanketed with images of the traditional family model,
featuring one mother and father. Signage also featured slogans like “In 2017, I
will vote for the family” and “A father and a mother – it's hereditary”
The same-sex
marriage law was passed in 2013, but since then there have been a series of
protests and unions created in opposition of the law. Marchers are hoping to
make an impact prior to the next upcoming presidential election in France.
"Even if
the gay marriage law has been adopted, we will continue the protest to show
that it is not good and we want it to be repealed. We want to influence the
political debate that will take place in the coming months," said one
protester.
None of the
major presidential candidates running in the election taking place in 6 months
made an appearance at the protest. However, one of the leading nominees for the
right-wing Republican presidential candidacy weighed in on the issue.
"I believe
France has many other important issues to deal with such as security, terrorism
and unemployment,” said former President Nicolas Sarkozy on the political
talk show Punchline. “Rather than recreate conditions for another
hysterical debate.”
http://punchingbagpost.com/masses-march-in-paris-in-opposition-of-gay-marriage
No comments:
Post a Comment