France to Consider Marriage Equality Bill

The French Parliament

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.