The day after major demonstrations in Paris and Lyon, by the Manif Pour Tous movement Interior minister Manuel Valls appeared keen to reassure protesters.
He stated unequivocally on French radio station, RTL, on Monday that the government would oppose any proposed legislation allowing medically assisted procreation (PMA in French) for lesbian couples or legalizing the use of surrogate mothers for homosexual couples (GPA in French).
Within minutes he was undermined by the leader of his own Socialist party in parliament.
“I do not want to reassure those people who demonstrated and I say to them that the Left will always fight to introduce new rights in our country”, said Bruno Le Roux.
French law allows medically assisted procreation for heterosexual couples who are infertile or who are judged to be in danger of passing on a serious disease to their baby. (Surrogate motherhood is illegal in France, though according to current recommendations, children conceived outside France using a surrogate mother, who are being raised by French parents, are now entitled to French citizenship.)
Sunday’s march was a show of force to deter the government from any attempt to change the existing laws on PMA or GPA. Many also expressed anger at a pilot programme in some schools intended to combat gender stereotypes but which some families interpret as an attempt to promote homosexuality.
Categories: Europe