Gay marriage in France, finally!

The minister of Justice Christiane Taubira

Finally, gays in France could marry (well, not yet, but the law passed assembly national and should, in theory, get the OK from the Senate). It was very interesting to watch the procedure to get the law passed in assembly national. The left majority proposed the law and the right attempted to block or to slow the proposed law. The right, in an effort to block, proposed no less than 5000 amendments to the proposed text on gay marriage. Some amendments were ridiculously out of this world such as to include allowing polygamy etc. just to slow the process of OK ing the law. The number of amendments made the text one of the most debated in history of France. The debate on the floor was also marked by verbal aggression, with lots of gesticulation. But I thought the minister who defended the law, Christiane Taubira (a Black French woman who hailed from French Guyana), was on top form and was able to respond convincingly. An amazing woman who delivered a moving opening speech of 40 minutes without looking at notes, who cited poems at will to make her points when attacked by the right. This has led her to be adopted by the gay community as their new icon (Taubiramania !!!!). The ‘discussion’ lasted close to five days including all night marathons (Great Britain passed the same law in one day in the House of commons). It is amazing really that France does not allow marriage for gay couples (though indeed we had something similar, like a civil union). In this respect we are behind South Africa, Portugal and Spain that do allow gay marriage. But now we have caught up, thank goodness. First gay marriage is expected in May or June. OK, now I just have to find a potential husband…