Same-sex marriage has been legal in France since 18 May 2013, making France the thirteenth country in the world and the ninth in Europe to allow same-sex couples to marry. The legislation applies to metropolitan France as well as to all French overseas departments and territories.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Switzerland since 1 July 2022. Legislation to open marriage to same-sex couples passed the Swiss Parliament in December 2020. The law was challenged in a referendum on 26 September 2021 by opponents of same-sex marriage and was approved with the support of 64% of voters and a majority in all 26 cantons. The law went into force on 1 July 2022. A provision of the law permitting same-sex marriages performed abroad to be recognised in Switzerland took effect on 1 January 2022. Switzerland was the seventeenth country in Europe and the 30th in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in France are progressive by world standards. Although same-sex sexual activity was a capital crime that often resulted in the death penalty during the Ancien Régime, all sodomy laws were repealed in 1791 during the French Revolution. However, a lesser-known indecent exposure law that often targeted LGBT people was introduced in 1960, before being repealed in 1980.
Rama Yade is a Senegalese-born French politician and author who has been director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center since 2021.
Dominique Venner was a French historian, journalist, and essayist. Venner was a member of the Organisation armée secrète and later became a European nationalist, founding the neo-fascist and white nationalist Europe-Action, before withdrawing from politics to focus on a career as a historian. He specialized in military and political history. At the time of his death, he was the editor of the La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, a bimonthly history magazine.
Same-sex unions have been recognised in the microstate of Monaco since 27 June 2020. On 4 December 2019, the National Council passed a bill establishing cohabitation agreements, offering both same-sex and opposite-sex couples limited rights and benefits in the areas of inheritance and property. The law took effect on 27 June.
The law opening marriage to same-sex couples, no. 2013-404 is a French law which, since 18 May 2013, grants same-sex couples the right to marry and jointly adopt children.
Virginie Tellenne better known by her alias Frigide Barjot, is a French humorist, columnist and political activist. A former socialite of the Parisian nightlife, who organized events defending the Catholic faith in the 2000s, Barjot rose to prominence in the early 2010s in France as a vocal campaigner against same-sex marriage and LGBT adoption.
Civitas, also known as France Jeunesse Civitas and Institut Civitas, was an association generally considered to be Traditionalist Catholic, integrist, nationalist, and of the extreme right. The association defines itself as a "Traditionalist Catholic lobby group". The group was once associated with the Society of St. Pius X, but it has evolved under the new leadership of Alain Escada and the "chaplaincy" is now provided by Capuchin Friars of Morgon. On February 14, 2023, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) released a report in which it classified Civitas as a "religious nationalist", "anti-LGBTQ+", and "conspiracy" group.
The Coalition for Life and Family or Coalition pour la vie et la famille is a European political party that especially opposes abortion and promotes traditional family values against homosexuality. In 2017, the party requested recognition by the European Parliament and the political party funding that this entails. This was granted for 2017, as the party had eight members of national and regional parliaments from seven countries.
Alain Escada, born 16 May 1970 in Brussels, is a Belgian far-right activist. Since 2012, he has been the chairman of Civitas, a French Traditionalist Catholic organization. Under his leadership, in 2012–13, Civitas opposed same-sex marriage in France, with Escada calling it a "Pandora's box" for polygamy and incest.
Emmanuelle Ménard is a French journalist and politician who has represented the 6th constituency of Hérault in the National Assembly since 2017.
Jordan Bardella is a French politician who has been the president of the National Rally (RN) since 2022, previously serving as acting president from September 2021 to November 2022 and as vice-president from 2019 to 2022. Bardella has also served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019, when he was the lead candidate for the RN in the European Parliament election, and has been a regional councillor of Île-de-France since 2015.
Bernard Boucault is a French public official. He was previously director of the École nationale d'administration. He was head of the Paris police from 2012 until 2015. He has been involved in several high-profile police actions, involving protestors in 2013 and the Football Championship of France concerning Paris Saint-Germain F.C. in 2013.
The Association of LGBTI Journalists is an LGBTI group founded in France in 2013. This French nonprofit association works towards a better media coverage of LGBTI issues, of issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation. Its members are journalists from a wide range of newsrooms as well as freelance journalists. Since 2017, the AJL has been organizing an annual ceremony, the « Out d’or », during which artists, journalists and diverse personalities are awarded for their work towards LGBTI visibility.
Béatrice Bourges, born Béatrice Morel on 18 October 1960 in Algeria, is a French management consultant and anti-gay marriage activist. She is a chevalière de la Legion d'Honneur and describes herself as the spokeswoman for Printemps Français, a pressure group advocating civil disobedience and passive resistance to bring about the end of same-sex marriage in France. In 2013, she was described by Manuel Valls, then the French Minister of the Interior, as "the most dangerous woman in France."
Ludovine de La Rochère is a French activist. She is president and co-founder of La Manif pour tous.
The 2021 Swiss same-sex marriage referendum was a facultative referendum held in Switzerland on 26 September 2021 about an amendment to the Civil Code to legalise marriage between people of the same sex, as well as adoption rights for same-sex couples and access to assisted reproductive technology for lesbian couples. The amendment was called "marriage for all" in Swiss public discourse.
Sonia Terrab is a Moroccan writer, filmmaker, and activist. Her work revolves around the status of women in Moroccan society, social hypocrisy regarding the body and sexuality, and Moroccan youth.
The New Ecological and Social People's Union was a left-wing electoral alliance of political parties in France. Formed on May Day 2022, the alliance includes La France Insoumise (LFI), the Socialist Party (PS), the French Communist Party (PCF), The Ecologists (LE), Ensemble! (E!), and Génération.s (G.s), and their respective smaller partners. It was the first wide left-wing political alliance since the Plural Left in the 1997 French legislative election. Over 70 dissident candidates who refused the accord still ran.
