French Protest Gay Marriage

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if the gay marriage law has been adopted, we will continue the protest to show that it is not good and we want it to be repealed.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.”

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