Global General

French parliament rejects gay marriage bill

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-15 11:14

PARIS - French lower house of parliament rejected Tuesday a bill proposing to legalize homosexual marriages.

The bill, proposed by the Socialist Party to support same-sex parenthood and marriages, failed to be adopted with 293 deputies voted against it and 222 voted for.

"Marriage between two persons of the same sex was an anthropological aberration because society must ensure its sustainability," Christian Vanneste, a deputy from the ruling right-wing UMP party said on Europe 1 radio, though the Socialists blamed the ban of discrimination.

Marriages of homosexual couples are already legal in some European countries such as Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Portugal and Iceland.  

Early this year, the French constitutional court had upheld a ban on gay marriage when a lesbian couple with four children appealed to the court to legalize their marriage, though their parenthood was already recognized by law.