Paris Protesters March Against Bill on Couples
Tens of thousands of people marched Sunday to protest a bill that would give legal status to unmarried couples and, opponents claim, subvert “family values.”
The leftist government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has been pressing to make the Civil Solidarity Pact, known as PACS, law. Critics say the bill’s real aim is to legalize homosexual marriages and ultimately allow gay couples to adopt children.
Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement said nearly 100,000 people turned out for the march. Speaking on French radio, Chevenement said his government will not withdraw the bill.
“The individual has rights, and homosexuals also have the right to a certain stability,” he said.
The bill was adopted by the National Assembly. It must now go to the Senate.
Present at the march was Bruno Megret, leader of a dissident branch of the extreme-right National Front party.
But organizers insisted that the march was apolitical.
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