France to Consider Marriage Equality Bill in October

The French Parliament

As much of the world advances on marriage equality, the Untied States remains in the grip of the knuckle dragging Neanderthals - like a couple on CBS's Sunday Morning yesterday - who cannot grasp the concept that in America one group doesn't get to inflict their personal religious beliefs on the rest of the population by infusing religion into the CIVIL laws.  Now, France appears poised to consider bringing full same sex marriage to that nation under a bill to be introduced this fall.  Thus, the USA falls further behind in the embrace of social modernity.  Here are some highlights from The Advocate's coverage of the development:

The French government will introduce a marriage equality bill to Parliament in October, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told the annual meeting of the Socialist Party Saturday.

“We will send a bill to the National Assembly and the Senate to allow same-sex couples to marry,” Ayrault told party members gathered in the coastal of La Rochelle, The Wall Street Journal reports. “It would also allow them to form families and adopt children.”

France has offered marriage-like civil partnerships since the late 1990s, but those do not confer adoption rights. The legislation, which would bring France into line with many other European countries and fulfill a campaign promise of President François Hollande, is likely to pass because the Socialists control both houses of Parliament, the Journal notes, although opposition from religious groups could make debate intense.