First Gay Couple Wed In France

Just yesterday, the first gay couple was allowed to legally marry in France.

This is a huge step towards equality for all people in the realms of law, especially those concerning marriage as many other countries are implementing such laws across the globe.

However, there will always be those who are adverse to new things, and the bias in this article is in question when it captures the scope of events through a British and rather conservative lens.

Alas, for those who haven't seen it, and even for those who have....The article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22706351

I am glad that such couples are now able to enjoy the same rights as those who would be marrying in the traditional sense (man and woman) and I believe this is one of the first stepping stones on the path to a more tolerant world as a whole.

Though I am not homosexual, I tolerate and accept these people as human beings who merit exactly what I merit. Should personal choices in the realm of sexual preference be oppressed as they are in countries such as those across the continent of Africa, else does this motion put forward by France not provide opportunities and liberities to people who would otherwise have to live behind a shadow? For what is more cruel, to deny a man or woman their freedom, else to give them a supposed sense of liberty through a complex set of social conventions and legalities? Poetry aside, enjoy

Your thoughts on the article from the BBC?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22706351


Also, for a look at the African front in terms of how homosexuality is viewed in many countries there, an article from NGO Pulse:

http://www.ngopulse.org/article/homosexuality-africa-making-progress

~Lorian~

Some facts:

-In France Marriage has been under state control since 1793. (Meaning only the state can wed people since that date). Considering common people only started marrying in churches about 100 years before that, marriage in France has actually been performed by the state more than it has been by the catholic church.
-People in favor, have for a few years now, been more numerous than people in opposition.
-In the opposition camp, you can count the 10% muslims, 10% actual christians, and 10-20% conservatives who may or may not be religious but like the old ways better (fair enough it worked until now why change anything). That leaves you with 60% in favour and some undecided.

http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/63-francais-favorables-au-mariage-homosexuel-49-adoption-legere-remontee-opinion-sujet-jerome-fourquet-618315.html

It's also the job of mayors to wed people. While other civil servants can also do it, and as such mayors who do not wish to wed gay couples in larger towns and cities will be able to have someone else do it, in places where there's only a mayor, refusal would be breaking the law.

Two gay people marry and all of society doesn't collapse under the weight of its own immorality? WHAT IS THIS?!?!

Technically this wasn't the first gay wedding either: they had one in 2004... The law didn't specify that the couple had to be of opposite sex, however some other law, regulating the role of the civil officer indicated that he or she had to record the vows of husband and wife... which he technically didn't do (since there was no wife) It was annulled a few years later (courts being swift and all), and it also emerged the couple were thieves and ended up in prison ...

ren wrote: It's also the job of mayors to wed people. While other civil servants can also do it, and as such mayors who do not wish to wed gay couples in larger towns and cities will be able to have someone else do it, in places where there's only a mayor, refusal would be breaking the law.

Yes, but...
this new law has a lack. It doesn't plan a sanction if a mayor refuses to wed.

http://www.sudouest.fr/2013/06/07/pays-basque-les-elus-refractaires-au-mariage-gay-a-l-abri-de-toutes-sanctions-1078231-4018.php