Two-thirds of French support referendum on gay marriage, poll shows

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Two women kiss as they participate in the 10th anniversary Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem on August 2, 2012. AFP photo

A large majority of French citizens favor going to the polls to decide whether to change the country's civil code to permit same-sex marriage and allow such couples to adopt children, daily Le Figaro reported yesterday.

Some 66 percent of those polled agreed with the question "The government has introduced a bill allowing gay marriage with the right to adopt children. This project will fundamentally change the Civil Code and Family Law. According to you, on such a subject, should the French be called upon to decide in a referendum?"

Some 51 percent of left-wing supporters agreed that the bill should be put to a referendum, versus 77 percent of supporters of the Union for Popular Movement (UMP) and 84 percent of the National Front (FN). Men are more favorably disposed to the referendum (70 percent) than women (62 percent). Meanwhile, 71 percent of those aged 18-24 would support the bill being taken to a vote.

Despite the report, a referendum on the issue is unrealistic because only the president can call for such a vote.

"We launched this survey because we feel there is a refusal to debate the merits of the issue,” said Tugdual Derville of Alliance Vita, an organization that commissioned the study.

Faced with the gradual discovery of the consequences of such a reform, especially for children but also for the whole family, the result shows that the debate about marriage and adoption for same-sex couples is too important to be taken lightly.

Alliance Vita has said it regrets the fact that the government is doing too little for children in a society that "suffers from the breakup of families, erasure of the father and the isolation of the mother "with the proliferation of single-parent families.

Gay marriage is not legal in France. A bill in question prepared by the justice and family ministers must be presented to the Cabinet by Oct. 31.

The survey was conducted with 1,003 people over 18 years of age on Sept. 20.