This morning I woke up and saw an article on the website of the centrist British newspaper The Independent that annoyed me.It is about President Hollande's push to legalize same-sex marriage in France, and while this article does drift past some truths, not all of it should be just swallowed up.
So, dear readers, today you shall be treated to my analysis and correction of this article, since I live in the country in question and have been following this subject very closely and somewhat actively.
Yes, this is the person who just two weeks ago wrote his skeptic theory on why gay marriage might not be legalized in France, but that was because of the economy, not because of the gay marriage bill. My theory in that article was, and remains, that if Hollande doesn't fix the economy quickly, then the restless population with whom he is becoming increasingly unpopular (along with his Prime Minister) might get him to resign, leaving his place to someone right-wing such as Nicolas Sarkozy -- and if I were The Independent, I might suggest Nazi-sympathizing Marine Le Pen. But I'm not.
For me to be able to start putting The Independent's wrongs right, I'm going to need you to read their article. It's not very long.
God help me if I ever apply to work in The Independent when I graduate journalism college. Here goes...
Firstly, the whole article is pretty much summarized in the first sentence. Here's what The Independent claims.
A drive by President François Hollande to legalise gay marriage is shaping up as an epic battle between left and right but also between urban France and "La France Profonde".Some strong words there! "Drive" suggesting it's somewhat of a struggle, "epic" pull out your swords gentlemen, and a "battle" between urban France and rural France? Yes, the country is indeed being divided and brought to its knees over the question of marriage equality. I kid.
Then, the article uses some truths. It's true that Jean-François Copé is outspoken against the idea, and the right often say they have the children's best interests at heart when they criticize equality. He did say he would call mass-protests, but then The Independent makes out he's some kind of threat to Hollande's plans.
He gave as his model the large right-wing demonstrations which protested – successfully – against the abolition of Catholic schools in 1984.
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| Eww! Love! |
This will start to happen more often. We promise. LGBT organizations around the country have started to stage kiss-ins at these events.
The article continues in saying that mayors of villages and small towns are pushing to get a law that would allow them to refuse to perform same-sex marriages. This, like Mr. Copé's statements, is also true, but luckily for you readers I can break some not-so-important news. Last week I attended a debate on marriage equality which was held in the county headquarters of the UMP (the largest right-wing party in France). It lasted around two and a half hours, and after everyone had expressed their opinions, some heart-wrenching testimonies from an elderly gay couple with a son in tow were heard, along with the views of a right-wing former mayor, the conclusion that everyone came to (UMP representatives included) was "like it or not, this is the way the country's going" since the UMP know very well they have no say in the debate, because they haven't won an election since 2007. They have no control in the Senate and they no longer have a representative as President, what can they expect to do? Sure, then there are the die-hard homophobes amongst the UMP's ranks, but that's a problem with their party ethos that I can't write about on this blog.
The article finishes in suggesting there's some sort of "battle" between urban and rural areas. It's true that rural areas are a bit less open to these sorts of legislation but even so, when you look at the breakdown of votes in the Presidential elections earlier this year, you'll see that most of the rural towns and villages came out pink (voted for Hollande), and marriage equality was an explicit part of his program on the campaign trail. He certainly didn't hide the fact he'd be passing this law, and he and his party were both very outspoken on the issue. If these people are now regretting Hollande's presidency, they may want to reconsider using the emotional vote in future when attacking the incumbent President, like they did with Sarkozy this year.
Let me conclude by saying this to the voters. The fact of the matter is when it comes to marriage equality in France, not only did you choose the President who supported it the most, you also gave him all the tools to do it. Perhaps you should read the candidates' programs before voting for them? Actually, you didn't even have to look that far in the case of Hollande's campaign trail, you just had to turn on the TV.
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