After change in French law, same-sex marriages boom

PARIS, April 25 (UPI) -- Over 7,000 same-sex marriages, three percent of the total number of marriages, were performed in France in 2013, an indication the practice is gaining acceptance despite debate and negative public opinion when the law to permit it was proposed in parliament.

Violent protest swept France when the law went into effect in May 2013. The acceptance of the law is viewed as a triumph for President Francois Hollande, whose shaky political stature was enhanced by the law’s success. Conservative and religious leaders, as well as anti-Hollande groups, opposed the law.

France is one of 15 countries to allow same-sex marriage. The law allows not only same-sex marriage but adoption by same-sex couples, a sticking point in legislation discussions.

Same-sex couples marry in France, they typically say, to give them and their children the same rights and protections of heterosexual married couples.

The number of marriages is high, but "it’s normal at the same time," Anthony Auvrouin told the New York Times. Auvrouin, 37, who married Fabien Peulvey, 33, in February, noted Guenhael Huet, the mayor of Avranches in northern France, married the couple reluctantly at city hall. "He did it coldly, not enthusiastically. He was obliged."

In some towns, mayors who oppose the law delegate their role to deputies.