FRANCE/FILE: Montpellier town hall prepares for historic ceremony welcoming France's first gay marriage in the wake of months of mass protests against the controversial social reform

Record ID: 277875

  • Title: FRANCE/FILE: Montpellier town hall prepares for historic ceremony welcoming France's first gay marriage in the wake of months of mass protests against the controversial social reform
  • Date: 28th May 2013
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FILE - APRIL 27, 2013) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VISITORS AT GAY WEDDING FAIR COUPLE KISSING FIGURINES OF TWO GROOMS FIGURINES OF TWO BRIDES WEDDING DINING TABLE PHOTOGRAPH OF TWO MEN AND CHILD VARIOUS OF COUPLE LOOKING AT AND TRYING ON WEDDING RINGS
  • Embargoed: 12th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA1BM0ZBCO0G5ENUQA0E9SIW20C
  • Story Text: A controversial revolution in French social policy will reach culmination on Wednesday (May 28) as Montpellier town hall is set to welcome the country's first gay wedding.
    Couple Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau are to be united in marriage after months of increasingly violent protests have divided the country while French President Francois Hollande's government pushed through its first major social reform.
    The historic ceremony was promised to the couple by government spokeswoman Najat Vallud-Belkacem due to Autin's vocal fight for gay rights as president of the local LGBT group. The decision also recognises the actions successive mayors of Montpellier have taken for the gay community, making it one of the most gay-friendly cities in France.
    Autin said he was overjoyed the celebrations could go ahead.
    "It's pure happiness. We're going to be united, but we can only be united because people have supported each other to win the fight. That created a movement of solidarity which led to all of us defending this idea of equality which is dear to us," he said.
    Everything is ready for Wednesday's wedding after weeks of preparation, despite the date not being set until the last fortnight. About 150 of the couple's family and friends have been invited, as well as Vallaud-Belkacem, French family minister Dominique Bertinotti and over 150 journalists.
    Montpellier has embraced its moment in history by erecting giant screens outside the town hall for crowds to watch the momentous exchange of vows.
    Although Autin's mother Evelyne said she couldn't understand how same-sex relationships could bother people, the streets of Paris have witnessed vast protests of increasing violence even after the law was passed.
    Several hundred thousand opponents of gay marriage marched in central Paris on Sunday, waving pink and blue flags emblazoned with the "Protest for Everyone" slogan -- a movement that has been at the forefront of fighting Hollande's reform, dubbed "Marriage for Everyone".
    While the rally was peaceful throughout much of the day, police said they arrested 96 hardline opponents to the gay marriage law later on for refusing to disperse or occupying private property.
    Once the bulk of protesters had gone home, clashes erupted between hardliners wielding sticks and riot police, filling the Invalides Esplanade with tear gas.
    Sunday's violence was however less severe than at the end of previous demonstrations, which began as a grass roots campaign strongly backed by the Roman Catholic Church, and have morphed into a wider movement with opposition politicians and far-right militants airing their discontent with Hollande.
    The French premier's flagship social policy was adopted by the country's parliament earlier in the year despite the vocal opposition of campaigners such as French comedian Frigide Barjot, who rallied the "Protest for Everyone" often clad in the movement's trademark hot pink.
    Asked whether she had a message for the happy couple, Barjot told Reuters that their celebrations came at a price.
    "Be happy, celebrate the party, but understand that afterwards what you're going to incarnate, what you're going to put in application, afterwards we'll find it difficult to go back. Know that this has consequences for the procreation of children," she said.
    Barjot has repeatedly insisted that opposition to same-sex marriage did not equate with homophobia and urged her supporters to avoid Autin and Boileau's nuptials.
    "I say to all our protesters not to go and demonstrate in Montpellier. I would really put them on guard - it's common sense not to go and do that. That'd really tip the movement over into homophobia," she said.
    Despite Barjot's appeals, LGBT groups have said that anti-gay attacks have increased since the debate has dominated the country's media.
    A photo of Paris resident Wilfred de Bruijn's battered face went viral on Facebook following what he claimed was a homophobic attack.
    While demonstrations have increasingly descended into violence against police, journalists and counter-protesters, research shows that a majority in France back Hollande's law.
    A survey published on Sunday showed 53 percent of those polled support gay marriage and adoption, indicating a slide of about 10 points since the protests began last November. It said 72 percent thought the protests should stop now.
    France, a traditionally Catholic country, followed 13 others including Canada, Denmark, Sweden and most recently Uruguay and New Zealand in allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed.
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