Despite all the protests and the hate raised by the topic,
we can now say "Congratulations!" to the first
married gay couple in France :
yesterday Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau celebrated their marriage in Montpellier,
amid tight security.
After months of mass street-demonstrations that have shaken France, violent clashes between far-right groups and riot police, 172 hours of heated parliament debate ,
a warning of a 30% rise in homophobic acts,
phone threats to Hélène Mandroux (the mayor that was to marry the couple)
and demonstrators trying to enter the town-hall grounds from the back,
letting off a gas cannister and fire-crackers,
now marriage is an option also for gay couples.
In his wedding speech, Autin referred to Martin Luther King.
"The law
may not be able to make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching
me."
Boileau added: "After the hatred, it's time to talk of love."
I can only imagine the emotion that was in their hearts,
not only for being able to tight their love within the marriage,
but also
- and especially-
for the role they were given in the history of gay's right achievements.
A moving "Yes, I do" for them,
a solemn "Yes, I do" for history.
"Rights groups hoped the pictures of the smiling newly-weds splashed
across all media would draw a line under the mass protests against
same-sex marriage in France,
the 9th European country to legalise it.
On
Sunday, more than 150,000 people marched through Paris on the last
major demonstration, followed by 293 arrests after clashes between riot
police and far-right groups.
The anti-gay marriage protests were the
biggest right-wing street demonstrations in France in decades. Tensions
were exacerbated last when when a far-right essayist,
Dominique Venner, shot himself dead at the alter
of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral on Tuesday
after leaving a blog post
railing against immigration and the "vile" law legalising same-sex
marriage."
What will follow now,
medically assisted conception by sperm donor,
parental rights for same-sex couples, adoption ecc ecc
will change the way we think about "family" soon,
but for those who protest in the name of a natural and social order,
I'd tell just one thing :
"Family" is a concept we built, exactly as marriage is not something embedded in our DNA.
History of human kind has seen innumerable different combinations of what "family" can be
and so far we survived them all.
The process won't be painless, especially for the first generations,
but hundred years from now same-sex families will be but one definition of "family".
And the most important thing is that it will be built just on the
personal wish to get married,
as genders won't have a meaning anymore.
And still,
for me it's shocking when sometimes,
on a date out with some friends of mine,
that are young people exactly like me with their dreams, passions, flaws, deceptions ecc
I stop,
and realise that these people
cannot include in their future the possibility of marrying the person they love,
because society does not recognize and accept their feelings.
And for me it is just inconceivable.
