Same-sex marriage has been legal in France since 18 May 2013. It is the thirteenth country worldwide to allow same-sex couples to marry. The legislation applies to metropolitan France as well as to the French Overseas departments and territories.
Contents
- Mamre and same sex marriage
- Reaction
- 2006 parliamentary report
- 2011 Constitutional Council decision
- 2011 bill
- Cabestanys 2011 same sex marriage
- 20122013 bill
- Scope
- Marriage statistics
- Overseas territories and departments
- Public opinion
- References
A bill granting same-sex couples the right to marry and jointly adopt children was introduced to the National Assembly by the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on 7 November 2012, with the support of President François Hollande, who declared his intent to support the legislation during his campaign for the presidency. On 12 February 2013, the National Assembly approved the bill in a 329–229 vote. On 12 April 2013, the Senate approved the bill with amendments in a 171–165 vote, followed by the approval of the amended bill by the National Assembly on 23 April 2013 in a 331–225 vote. However a challenge to the law by the conservative UMP party was filed with the Constitutional Council following the vote. On 17 May 2013, the Council ruled that the law is constitutional. On 17 May 2013, Hollande promulgated the bill, which was officially published the next day in the Journal Officiel. The first official same-sex ceremony took place on 29 May in the city of Montpellier.
Mamère and same-sex marriage
On 5 June 2004, former Green Party presidential candidate Noël Mamère, Mayor of the Bordeaux suburb of Bègles, conducted a same-sex marriage ceremony for two men, Bertrand Charpentier and Stéphane Chapin. Mamère claimed that there was nothing in French law to prohibit such a ceremony, and that he would appeal any challenge to the European Court of Human Rights.
French Minister of Justice Dominique Perben had stated that such unions would be legally void, and called for judicial intervention to halt the ceremony. On 27 July 2004, the Bordeaux court of general jurisdiction declared the marriage null and void. One legal argument defended by the public prosecutor, which, representing the national government, opposed the marriage, was that the civil code speaks several times of a husband and a wife, which implies different genders. On 19 April 2005, the appeals court of Bordeaux upheld the ruling. On 14 March 2007, the Court of Cassation turned down Charpentier and Chapin's appeal. On 9 June 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the decision to invalidate Charpentier and Chapin's marriage did not constitute an infringement of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Reaction
Shortly after the ceremony took place, Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin instituted disciplinary procedures against Mamère. Mamère was suspended for a month. The local administrative court ruled that Mamère's suspension was legal and motivated. Mamère said he would not appeal the ruling (Mamère had already unsuccessfully tried to obtain an injunction from the court, and then had appealed the case to the Council of State; both had ruled that an injunction was not justified on grounds of urgency).
On 11 May 2004, Socialist Party leader François Hollande announced that he would ask his party to file a draft law which would render such marriages unequivocally legal. Some other party leaders, such as former prime minister Lionel Jospin, disapproved publicly of same-sex marriages. Hollande's partner, Ségolène Royal, said at the time that she had doubts about same-sex marriage, but now supports it fully.
2006 parliamentary report
A parliamentary "Report on the Family and the Rights of Children" was released on 25 January 2006. Although the committee recommended increasing some rights given in PACS, it recommended maintaining prohibitions against marriage, adoption, and access to medically assisted reproduction for same-sex couples, arguing that these three issues were inseparable and that allowing them would contravene a number of articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which France is a signatory (although many UN nations do grant some or all of these rights to same-sex couples). Referring to the rights of children as a human rights issue, the report argued that children "now have rights and to systematically give preference to adult aspirations over respect for these rights is not possible any more." Because of these prohibitions, left-wing members of the committee rejected the report.
2011 Constitutional Council decision
LGBT organizations in France, who believed that the prohibition of same-sex marriage was contrary to the Constitution, asked the country's Constitutional Council to examine the constitutionality of same-sex marriage and to review the articles of the Civil Code. On 28 January 2011, the Council decided that the illegality of same-sex marriages was not contrary to the Constitution, stating that this was a question for Parliament to decide.
2011 bill
On 14 June 2011, the National Assembly of France voted 293–222 against legalizing same-sex marriage. Deputies of the majority party Union for a Popular Movement voted mostly against the measure, while deputies of the Socialist Party mostly voted in favor. Members of the Socialist Party stated that legalization of same-sex marriage would become a priority should they gain a majority in the 2012 legislative election.
Cabestany's 2011 same-sex marriage
On 12 November 2011, Cabestany mayor Jean Vila performed a same-sex wedding ceremony for a couple named Patrick, 48, and Guillaume, 37. The marriage was not recorded in order to prevent a subsequent nullification, and Vila described it as a "militant act", saying that: "There are times when it is necessary to act outside the law. Refusing homosexual marriage is to deny the reality of thousands of couples."
The Paris government's reaction was mixed: junior Families Minister Claude Greff called the event a "provocation on the eve of the presidential election" in 2012, while Solidarity Minister Roselyne Bachelot stated that she supported same-sex marriage but that the ceremony was "not the best way to advance the cause".
2012–2013 bill
During his campaign for the 2012 presidential election, Socialist Party candidate François Hollande declared his support for same-sex marriage and adoption for same-sex couples and included them as one of his 60 government engagements. On 6 May 2012 Hollande won the election and promised to pass same-sex marriage legislation before spring 2013. On 17 June, Hollande's party won an absolute majority in the French Assembly, which was followed by an announcement by the government spokesperson Najat Vallaud-Belkacem on Pride Day that the same-sex marriage bill will be adopted in spring 2013 at the latest. On 3 July, in his first speech in front of the newly elected assembly, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced that marriage and adoption for everybody will be a reality "in the first semester of 2013". The draft bill was submitted to parliament on 7 November 2012.
On 2 February 2013, the National Assembly approved the first article of the bill, which sought to legalize same-sex marriage, by 249 votes against 97; the debate took several days as opponents introduced more than 5000 amendments to the bill in order to slow down its passage. On 12 February 2013, the National Assembly approved the bill as a whole in a 329–229 vote and send it to the Senate.
On 4 April 2013, the Senate started the debate on the bill and five days later it approved its first article in a 179–157 vote. On 12 April, the Senate approved the bill with minor amendments, in a 171–165 vote. The Senate version of the marriage bill was adopted by the National Assembly on 23 April 2013 in a 331–225 vote.
The opposition UMP Party immediately filed a challenge against the law to the Constitutional Council. On 17 May 2013, the Council declared the Act constitutional. The same day, President Francois Hollande promulgated the bill, which was officially published on 18 May 2013, in the Journal Officiel. The first official same-sex ceremony took place on 29 May in the city of Montpellier.
Scope
There has been confusion over whether the act applies to nationals of Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Kosovo, Laos, Montenegro, Morocco, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia or Tunisia as it would breach bilateral agreements that stipulate the law of that state applies rather than French law. The Court of Cassation ruled that it does in September 2015 by finding the provisions excluding these countries discriminatory and contrary to French law.
Marriage statistics
In 2013, following the implementation of same-sex marriage laws in France that went into effect on 29 May, approximately 7,000 same-sex couples legally married in the nation. These unions made up around 3% of all marriages in France in that time, with three out of every five same-sex marriages involving male couples rather than female couples.
In 2014, approximately 10,000 same-sex marriages took place in France, representing 4% of all marriages performed that year. 54% of these marriages were between men while the remaining 46% were between women. Some 6,000 French communes celebrated at least one same-sex marriage. 1,331 same-sex couples married in the French capital city of Paris, making up 13,5% of the total number of weddings performed in the city.
In 2015, 7,751 same-sex couples wed in France, representing 3.4% of all marriages. Additionally, that same year, some 7,017 same-sex PACS were celebrated throughout the country. In 2016, approximately 7,000 same-sex marriages were performed in the country, making up around 3% of all marriages.
Overseas territories and departments
By February 2014, 11 same-sex marriages had occurred in New Caledonia, representing 1.7% of all marriages. 9 of these marriages were celebrated in the South Province and the remaining 2 were celebrated in the North Province.
The first same-sex marriage in French Polynesia took place on the island of Mo'orea in July 2013. In Réunion, the first same-sex marriage was celebrated in June 2013 in Saint-Paul. In Mayotte, the first same-sex wedding was performed in September 2013 in Mamoudzou, the largest city in the department. This marked the first time in history that a legally recognized same-sex marriage occurred in a jurisdiction where a majority of the population follows Islam.
The first same-sex wedding in Guadeloupe occurred in July 2013 in the city of Saint-Anne. In Martinique and Saint Martin, the first same-sex marriage was celebrated in June 2013 and October 2013, respectively. The first same-sex marriage in Saint Pierre and Miquelon was performed in March 2014. In August 2013, the first same-sex marriage in French Guiana took place. The couple wed in the city of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni.
Public opinion
Opinion polls generally show that the French public supports the legalisation of same-sex marriage: