Press release | Same-sex marriage and adoption in France – A profound change of the nature of Marriage, Adoption and Filiation and an injustice for each citizen, is this what the French President understands as justice for the youth?

Paris, 12 January 2013

Same-sex marriage and adoption in France: A profound change of the nature of Marriage, Adoption and Filiation and an injustice for each citizen, is this what the French President understands as justice for the youth? asks FAFCE’s President Antoine Renard.

In his first speech as France’s President on 6 May 2012, François Hollande expressed his wish to be “judged on two major commitments: justice and youth” [1]. However, he is about to introduce a profound change of the very nature of marriage, adoption and filiation, all cornerstones of the society. The current legal proposal on marriage and adoption “for all”, i.e. an extension of marriage to same sex couples, presented by the French government currently creates a deep division in the French society.

Antoine Renard, President of the French Catholic Family Associations (CNAFC) and of the European Federation of Catholic Family Associations (FAFCE), regrets the lack of will to listen to the civil society: “98% of the French parents of children under the age of 15 would primarily turn to families with a man-woman couple if they were themselves unable of taking care of their children in the case of death or serious illness[2]. Although the society accepts the relationships between two people of the same sex, the need for children to grow up with a father and a mother, or two adults of different sex in the case of orphans, remains a common understanding.”

“Children are subjects of rights but their rights are excluded in the current proposal, a proposal that on the contrary reverses the hierarchy of rights: instead of taking into account the best interest of the child, this project introduces a ‘right to a child’” states Mr Renard. His analysis is confirmed by the ombudsman for rights, Mr Dominique Baudis. During his hearing with the legal committee of the Assemblée nationale, he pointed out that the proposal ignores the International convention on the rights of the child.

On the eve of the demonstration “for all”, against the legal proposal in Paris on 13 January where several hundred thousand people are expected, Mr Renard expresses his wishes for the French people: “I believe that our country crucially needs to stay united as we are facing the consequences of the economic and social crisis but rather than striving for unity, our Government pushes an issue that is clearly dividing our people. Mr Hollande committed himself to justice and youth at the beginning of his Presidential mandate. However, I believe that the current proposal is unjust for each of our citizens and in particular for our future generations. Moreover, many homosexuals feel betrayed by the position of the Government and do not support the demands for marriage and adoption rights, these are on the contrary part of an ideological agenda promoted by a small lobby. In the name of the families our organization represents, I strongly call on President Hollande to withdraw the legal proposal, in the name of justice for all, especially for the youth”.