France’s Government passes same-sex marriage in final vote in Parliament.
France is ready to become the 14th nation on earth to legalise same-sex marriage after the National Assembly passed the bill in a vote.
331 voted in favour, while 225 voted against – giving same-sex couples the legal right to marry.
Pinknews are reporting that the final step in making marriage equality law in France is for the president, Francois Hollande to sign the bill.
President Hollande as already given his formal approval.
The revelation follows the news that New Zealand voted in favour of marriage equality last week.
However there has been much tension in France surrounding the issue of gay marriage with one major organisation, La Manif Pour Tous (Demo For All), coordinating mass rallies in the French capital, Paris.
Indeed, tensions where so high during voting that “legions” of police were assembled outside the National Assembly with water cannons.
In January over 340,000 people took to the streets of Paris to demonstrate against the bill.
A less successful attempt was orchestrated by La Manif Pour Tous in London in Trafalgar Square last month.
A number of high profile homophobic attacks have also been reported in the last few weeks. On April 6th a gay couple were beaten in Paris and last weekend a young gay dancer, Raphaël Leclerc was beaten in Nice.
