French Domestic-Partner Law Raises Ire

Francois Vauglin was saddened to see 100,000 angry French people take to the streets to condemn his way of life.

All he wanted was to legitimize his love for his boyfriend in the eyes of the law. He won.

The nationwide debate triggered by the government’s adoption of a law giving some legal rights to unmarried couples--known as PACS--exposed a deep fault line between conservative Roman Catholic France and the country’s more liberal factions.

“These people cannot abide society’s recognition for us. The PACS recognizes the universality of love, and that bugs them,” said Vauglin, who signed a PACS contract with his boyfriend, Alain Piriou, 25, in December.

The debate has stirred violent passions in France and even affected the language, bringing a new verb--”se pacser,” or “to pact”--into common parlance.

Protests started when the Socialist-led government unveiled its plans for the new law in 1998. The Civil Solidarity Pact, or PACS by its French initials, was finally approved in October.

Since then, nearly 14,000 French couples, both gay and heterosexual, have registered their unions at local courthouses.

Most PACS contracts have been signed in Paris or in other big cities. Although there are no official figures, activists say about 75% of those signed in Paris were by homosexual couples, compared with 40% in other areas.

The law allows couples to file joint tax forms after three years together; helps people bring foreign partners to France; forces employers to take couples’ joint vacation plans into account; and makes partners accountable for each other’s debts.

It applies to all unmarried couples, but it was the gay angle that triggered the most virulent public outcry.

Some 100,000 people marched through Paris last year to protest the law, which they feared was a first step toward gay marriages.

That possibility disturbed the Roman Catholic Church.

“One cannot ignore . . . that this legislation is just a first step, for example, toward the adoption of children by people in a homosexual relationship. . . . We fear for the future and we regret what has just happened,” Louis-Marie Bille, head of the Council of French Bishops, said in a statement.

Some unmarried straight couples also took umbrage at the anti-PACS protests.

“I would call all these forces obscurantist. They look at life through the rearview mirror,” said Bernard Teper, spokesman for the Union of Secular Families.

France is far from leading Europe on this issue.

In Norway and Sweden gay couples can already register their partnerships, and Denmark has gone a step further--it was the first country in the world to allow gay marriages, in 1989. The Netherlands followed suit by legalizing gay marriages in 1998.

In Germany, the government intends to give some legal status to gay couples but not the right to adopt children. Britain doesn’t allow gay marriages, but both married and unmarried couples with children have the same rights to tax credits.

Spain and Italy do not have legal recognition for unmarried couples.

Vauglin said the anti-PACS demonstrations disturbed him but the debate was necessary.

“Suddenly the issue of the homosexual couple was raised. Especially in small villages, there was a lead cover on all that. It was taboo, or social death,” he said.

But he says the law is not perfect, not least because a couple has to wait three years before they can file a joint tax return.

Teper said more gay couples are using the law because it does not offer enough for straight couples.

“We are happy for the homosexual couples who did not have any rights. But there is not enough for heterosexual couples in the PACS,” he said, noting that such pairs already had some rights, such as being able to transfer leases to a partner’s name in the event of death.

As far as Vauglin is concerned, the PACS law means legitimacy.

“It’s really huge,” he said. “Our couple exists. As I am a civil servant, I know that if I am moved, the fact that I have a partner will be taken into account. If tomorrow I am knocked down by a bus, my boyfriend will not find himself on the street. You cannot say now that he does not exist.”