France legalizes same-sex marriage


Yesterday President Francois Hollande of France signed the same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption legislation into law making it the 14th country to do so, after the Constitutional Court rejected attempts by opponents to stop it. The court ruled, reasonably enough, that it “did not run contrary to any constitutional principles”, nor did it infringe upon “basic rights or liberties or national sovereignty”.

The map of global legalization of same-sex marriage is interesting.

global same sex marriage

It is disturbing that not a single Asian country has as yet taken this step. Vietnam could well be the first to do so.

The following countries have civil unions and some form of recognition of domestic partnerships: Andorra, Austria, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Greenland, Hungary, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, parts of Australia, and Venezuela.

We can forget about Russia joining the enlightened world anytime soon. Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin seems to be a real reactionary on this issue, even threatening to ban adoption of Russian children in those countries that legalize same-sex marriage.

Comments

  1. maudell says

    Sorry for the nitpick, but France’s president is François Hollande (Françoise is a woman’s name). I just had to be that annoying person. 🙂

  2. kyoseki says

    As an Englishman, it pains me to say it, but well done France.

    Also, as someone living in California, I’m more than a little disappointed we’re late to the party on both counts :/

  3. Mano Singham says

    No, it’s important to get things right so thanks for pointing it out. i have corrected it.

  4. markr1957 says

    One more group of people who finally see that you cannot legislate against equality, especially if it is done on the basis of religious beliefs, because doing that makes a mockery of the Constitution. Are we all equal, or aren’t we?

  5. Kimpatsu says

    It is disturbing that not a single Asian country has as yet taken this step.
    One reason for that is because so-called “Asian values” (which is really an excuse to deny democratic rights) maintain that marriage is not about love, or companionship, but about social stability. In Japan, even gay people are pressured into entering heterosexual marriages because marriage by a certain age is expected of everyone. You are here to serve the interests of the state; the state is not here to benefit and protect you. One point this does throw up is that I can now marry a woman in Tokyo and a man in France, and thereby commit bigamy. Of course, Asian countries like Japan and Singapore don’t recognise the gay marriage and so don’t regard my situation as bigamous, but France will, and it means I can claim earned benefits in Tokyo or Lion City for one spouse and (if I don’t tell the French) benefits in Paris for the other.

  6. bad Jim says

    Hey, we did have it for a while, and the only reason we haven’t done anything about it recently is that federal court decisions have been running in its favor. If we don’t get the right result from the Supreme Court by summer, it will be on the ballot next year and pass easily.

  7. kyoseki says

    I’m sure it will, but it still irks me that the Prop 8 vote went the way it did.

    You would think that will all the dumb shit going through our Democrat super majority right now, equal rights might be on the list, but sadly, it’s not the case.

  8. says

    I had to check up on what the little sliver of land north of New Zealand and east of Australia was. Turns out it’s New Caledonia, a semi-autonomous French territory, which presumably means that if you zoom in close enough, there’ll now be a few more tiny splotches of brown in the middle of the ocean where you can now legally have a same-sex marriage.

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