Gay marriage bill presented to French senate

The French government presented a bill to legalize gay marriage and adoption at a cabinet meeting Wednesday - despite strong opposition from religious leaders and right-wing opposition parties, dpa reported.

The "marriage for all" bill, which the government aims to push through parliament next year, changes the definition of marriage in France's civil code from the union of "a man and a woman" to the union of two people.

The bill would give gay couples more rights than they have under the civil unions currently available to same-sex couples, including right to adopt children and inherit a partner's estate.

Hollande, a Socialist, had promised during campaigning for president to follow the lead of the Netherlands, Spain and several other European countries by legalizing gay marriage.

Government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem quoted him as telling Wednesday's cabinet meeting that the bill represented "progress, not just for a few but for all society."

Polls show most French people agreeing wholeheartedly with him on gay marriage but being more reserved about gay adoptions.

A survey by Ifop pollsters published Wednesday showed 65 per cent of people supporting gay marriage, compared with 52 per cent for gay adoption. Another recent poll by BVA research company put support for gay adoption at 50 per cent.

The centre-right Union for a Popular Movement and other right-wing parties aim to mobilize resistance to the bill before it reaches parliament, as do the leaders of the country's main faiths.

At a conference of French Catholic bishops in Lourdes last week Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois slammed gay marriage as "a sham" that would "shake one of the foundations of our society."

Jewish and Muslim religious leaders have also condemned the bill.