France, hotbed of infidelity, has taken one step closer to allowing same-sex couples the privilege of having extra-marital affairs. This morning, the National Assembly, which is the lower house of France's parliament (it is much like our Congress, but different in that it appears they vote on things), voted 249 to 97 in favor of gay marriage.
This comes after months of divisive debate, as well as compromises by the French left, dropping parts of the legislation that would offer medically-assisted reproduction for lesbian couples. Last Sunday, 125,000 supporters of gay marriage marched in Paris to support President François Hollande's promise of legalizing gay marriage within a year of taking office. Three weeks ago, a much larger demonstration opposing gay marriage made apparent the strong divisions between the ruling Left and the hard-line, very Catholic conservative base. France's Muslims have supported the measure.
63% of the French support the bill, which would allow same-sex couples to adopt, although only 49% particularly like that part of the legislation. Votes in the higher houses will take place over the next two weeks.
This is great and all, besides the fact that the French don't really give two shits about marriage in the first place.