NOMblog: The Official Blog of the National Organization for Marriage

NOM BLOG

Category Archives: France

Lopez: Lessons from France on the Myths of SSM

June 11, 2013 – 12:00 pm

Robert Oscer Lopez writes in the Public Discourse:

Photo Credit: MA Mouterde

"...The French resistance to same-sex marriage has demonstrated that an ostensibly progressive nation that had little issue with homosexuality as a moral question can change its mind, not based on ignorance of reality, but based on knowing more about what same-sex marriage really means.

... The drop in support for same-sex marriage came with education and broader public debate. As the French knew more gay people individually and learned more about the ramifications of their legalized marriage on the community at large—especially children and poor communities overseas targeted for adoption and surrogacy—they liked the idea of same-sex marriage less and less.

...France proves that no opinion trend on any graph can be taken for granted as perpetual. In the United States we knew this already; we simply weren’t aware that we knew it. We know from the abortion debate that what seems like a steady march of acceptance can actually grind to a halt or reverse.

The Gallup polls on abortion show how unpredictable the trends in opinion can be, for the number of “pro-choice” Americans peaked in 1996 at 56 percent, then declined to 45 percent today, while pro-life opinion gained significant ground, albeit in fits and starts (only 33 percent of Americans were pro-life in 1996, compared to 48 percent today).

If we take a step back and examine how the international LGBT lobby has fought for same-sex marriage, we see that the lobby’s leaders must be equally aware that nothing is inevitable about acceptance of same-sex marriage, regardless of what they say publicly. Rather than patience, haste has characterized their tactics.

Leaders of the French Pro-Marriage Movement: We Will Surrender Nothing!

June 2, 2013 – 9:00 am

The following speech was given by Ludovine de la Rochère, president of La Manif Pour Tous, the movement opposed to France’s recently passed same-sex marriage law. This speech was delivered at a mass rally on May 26, 2013—France’s Mother’s Day—before hundreds of thousands of supporters.

Here are some highlights but we urge you to read the whole speech here at First Things!

"...We are here, all so numerous, because our fundamental and universal values unite us.

Photo Credit: MA Mouterde

The truth is that we do not have the same notion of equality as our opponents do. Our belief, held by most of the country, rests first on the equality of children, equality before the right to have a father and mother, that is to say, an origin and real heritage, rather than a false heritage. Based on that we have come together as atheists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, right, left, straight, gay. For all, the truth that we owe to the child is sacred. We do not want children’s lives to be woven around lies, nor do we want gender studies ideology to triumph.

Then, as our opponents do not understand us, they refuse to debate us, they mock us, and they libel us.

But this time, it is you who are facing the wind, at the failure of the meaning of history. For we do not search for a false sense of History; rather, we shall write it!

All the generations are here, and among them, fathers and mothers and youths, each one keeping watch over us, over all of France, in silence, peaceful.

Yes, we turn now to face the future: yes, we have faith in the future; yes, we build the future and that is why we protest. We want a better world, rather than a brave new world.

What have we discovered along this long road? We are not alone! We are no longer alone, isolated, considered old fuddy duddies, losers, or conservatives—rather, the others will be revealed as those who live outside of reality.

Yes, France has awoken!"

By NOM Staff | Posted in Debating Marriage, France, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (11)

American Observer Brought to Tears Witnessing Hundreds of Thousands March for Marriage in France (Includes Photos)

May 28, 2013 – 11:30 am

The Blaze:

Sandy Glass from Naperville, Illinois, was in Paris and witnessed the parade unexpectedly, telling TheBlaze she and her husband estimated more than 250,000 people were present.

“It brought tears to our eyes,” Glass, a conservative and Glenn Beck fan, said in a phone interview.

“We go to France a lot and thought it was another left wing protest,” she said later, recalling that last year they found themselves in the middle of a Socialist rally.

When they followed the noise and witnessed what she described as “pro-family” signs, Glass said she realized “oh, we’re not the only ‘crazy’ ones,” explaining that it is “sometimes very difficult to be on the right in America."

Here are some photos showing the scale of the demonstration:

By NOM Staff | Posted in France, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (9)

NOM's Brian Brown Responds to France's Effort to Redefine Marriage

April 23, 2013 – 4:39 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 23, 2013
Contact: Elizabeth Ray or Jen Campbell (703-683-5004)

National Organization for Marriage

Washington, D.C.—The following statement may be attributed to Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage:

"It appears that France's socialist government is on the verge of succeeding in their ill-conceived quest to redefine marriage, despite massive grassroots opposition from the citizenry. We urge all French citizens to contact lawmakers to express their strong opposition to this policy. We also call on all citizens to conduct themselves honorably and peacefully. Even though the same-sex marriage policy being foisted on an unwilling public is profoundly unwise and anti-family, no citizen should ever express their disapproval through violent means. We condemn in the strongest possible terms violence by anyone on either side of this debate.

If the government of France does succeed with this vote to redefine marriage, it will not be the end of the debate. It will be time to hold the government accountable and to act to restore marriage to its rightful place as a good and honorable institution that brings husbands and wives together to provide children with both a mother and a father. NOM will continue to work with our friends in France to defend marriage as our most important social institution.

Specifically, NOM is working with the Collectif Famille Mariage (CFM), a charter member of the International Organization for Marriage (IOM). CFM—along with a wide coalition of pro-marriage organizations—is imploring France's Constitutional Council to carefully study and limit the scope of this law, which has been rushed through the Senate and the National Assembly.”

###

To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), [email protected], or Jen Campbell (x145), [email protected], at 703-683-5004.

Paid for by The National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown, president. 2029 K Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. New § 68A.405(1)(f) & (h).

By NOM Staff | Posted in Featured, France, Press Releases | Comments (76)

Thousands of French Youth Protest French Government "Fast-Tracking" SSM

April 18, 2013 – 9:00 am

New photos are coming in from France showing dozens of spontaneous pro-marriage rallies that have been erupting all over the country. LifeSiteNews reports:

Since last Friday, public demonstrations against same-sex “marriage” and adoption in France have been escalating, not only in Paris but also in remote provincial towns and even abroad among French expatriates. The Senate’s approval of the gay marriage bill (known as the “loi Taubira,” after the Justice Minister that proposed the text to the legislature) has sparked off a wave of anger, and groups of determined young people all over the country have decided to make their presence felt."

Check out the photos:

Photos from Le Salon Beige

By NOM Staff | Posted in France, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, Youth | Comments (2)

Photo: French NextGen for Marriage

April 13, 2013 – 9:00 am

Organized via La Manif Pour Tous (the umbrella group organizing resistance protests to SSM):

By NOM Staff | Posted in France, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, Youth | Comments (42)

Photos: Hundreds of Thousands Marching in Paris Again!

March 24, 2013 – 12:00 pm

"Le Manif Pour Tous" ("The Rally for All") is taking place in Paris, France right now, with hundreds of thousands marching:

You can follow live updates of what is happening here.

Meanwhile, their American friends gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. yesterday and sent us this photo with the message: "We will be there!" (i.e. at our March for Marriage this Tuesday!):

On Tuesday, it's our turn to march for marriage!

By NOM Staff | Posted in France, March for Marriage, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (7)

Video: NOM's Thomas Peters Debates the Future of Marriage on CrossTalk

February 4, 2013 – 11:15 am

NOM's Communications Director Thomas Peters joined in a spirited debate with Peter Tatchell, a veteran LGBT activist from the UK, over the meaning and future of marriage -- we think you will enjoy it!

On love and its relation to marriage, Peters says in response to Peter Tatchell:

"The proponent of gay marriage keeps saying "love is love is love" but the fact is there's a difference between the love of two men, and the love of a man and a woman the difference being that the love of a man and a woman, in most cases, ends with a child, and the child needs a mother and a father, a child for its entire biological [upbringing] will need to be raised by will be raised best by its mother and father and so that's why it's absurd to claim there's something ethically wrong with with seeing the love between a man and a woman as being unique -- that's what the core of marriage is, it's not an evaluation of one love versus another, it's saying different loves result in different things, and that's why the vast majority of who will experience love heterosexually and will have a child and that child will need a mother and father and all the social sciences show that children to best when they're raised by their biological mother and father. And so marriage just isn't about the emotional needs of adults, it's about the practical, emotional, psychological, social needs of children and that's why, while you can experiment with marriage for a few years, generationally only a healthy society that understands this core meaning of what love actually means, is a successful society."

On the harm gay marriage causes, Peters provides an illustration:

"There's an awful lot of civil society -- churches, communities, government -- that is all built to support marriage because marriage isn't easy. It's not easy to get men and women to commit to raising the children they make with their bodies. But that's what civil society has been doing and a healthy society does that. It is difficult and gay marriage makes it difficult for all of civil society to enshrine that value that children deserve a mom and a dad, and that men and women should stick around and love and raise the children they make with their bodies, and the detraction of gay marriage has made it impossible for things like the Catholic Church, for things like political/civil government to give that message and so when you say "gay marriage won't hurt anyone" it already has because now when I try to say "a child deserves both mom and a dad" you jump in and say "that's against equality!" and so you can actually see already that the more gay marriage becomes accepted and enshrined in law the more difficult it will become for the rest of us to communicate this life saving propagating message for the next generation."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, Debating Marriage, France, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, United Kingdom | Comments (16)

Bobby Lopez on Lessons from France on Defending Marriage

January 22, 2013 – 1:00 pm

Bobby Lopez, a self-identified bisexual raised by lesbians, describes the unique voices presenting the case for marriage in France:

"...The best parallel one could offer [to gay voices against gay marriage in France] is that many Jewish commentators are particularly harsh in their critiques of Israel not in spite of, but rather because of, the Jewish state’s claim of acting in their name. The same dynamic may explain the plethora of gay men who have not only supported but orchestrated the march on Paris to protest gay adoption. The idea of instrumentalizing children’s lives as a way of fulfilling gay aspirations is so abhorrent to a foundational Gallic sense of decency that the gay men who are being invoked to license it seem first in line to denounce it.

It is time for Americans to follow France’s lead. Frigide Barjot, Laurence Tcheng, and Xavier Bongibault have presented us with a game changer. They have given us the necessary rhetoric and republican logic to present a strong case against redefining marriage. They have provided us a playbook for mobilizing across party lines. They’ve presented colorful characters whom we can emulate. I will keep translating the news as it comes in, in the hope that American defenders of the family will be inspired to do as the “march for all” movement has done." (Public Discourse)

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, France, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

Support for SSM in France Falls From 65% to 50% in Wake of Paris Rally

January 18, 2013 – 2:30 pm

CBN:

President Francois Hollande is planning to legalize same-sex marriage, but the country's Catholic bishops and other religious leaders are fighting the initiative.

Public opinion appears to be moving in their favor, with a recent poll showing about 50 percent of French support same-sex marriage, down from 65 percent in August.

France has already legalized civil unions for same-sex couples, but this new law gives gay couples the rights to adopt.

Traditional French groups say children should be raised by a mother and a father.

By NOM Staff | Posted in France, Marriage, Polling, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (25)

Photo: Paris Pro-Marriage Rally Featured on Front Page of Sao Paulo, Brazil Newspaper

January 18, 2013 – 1:00 pm

Brazil has noticed what happened in France! When will the United States media catch up?

By NOM Staff | Posted in France, Marriage, Media, Same Sex Marriage, South America | Comments (1)

Abroad And At Home, People Rallying For Marriage, NOM Marriage News

January 17, 2013 – 6:40 pm

NOM National Newsletter

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Over a million people protesting in the streets of Paris for marriage. In Great Britain, a million leaflets opposing gay marriage are being distributed in swing districts.

Here I am in Paris, giving you a front-row seat to see what happened:

Here at home, a thousand people thronged the steps of Rhode Island's capitol building, led by black and Hispanic pastors:

As the fight for marriage gears up again in Minnesota, Rhode Island, Illinois, Washington D.C., and elsewhere, I will go to the battle with French words ringing in my ears.

Frigide Barjot, the organizer of the Paris rally for marriage, gave the speech of a lifetime.

"You, President of the Republic," Barjot proclaimed, "cannot remain unmoved before the growing uneasiness of the French people who now are finding out what is really behind the so-called "marriage for all."

She went on:

The 'marriage for all' is a juridical denial of the most elementary reality of humanity, constituted as it is "man and woman", the only union naturally capable of siring new life.

You, President of the Republic — Will you be the one to float a travesty — that a human being can be born of two men or of two women? "Marriage for all" inscribes fundamental discrimination into our law among children, an inequality between children who will be born of a mother and a father, and children who will be born of two fathers, and children who will be born of two mothers.

You, President of the Republic — Will you be the one to abolish the basic equality of birth among children?

She makes a magnificent point we pro-marriage fighters in the United States have not paid enough attention to: marriage as equality between men and women.

Marriage embodies the equal dignity of men and women in the creation and care of the next generation. Marriage expresses children's equal right to the love and care of both their mother and father.

We cannot, and will not, surrender to the winds of fashion something so true, so good, and so beautiful. We will continue to stand united in this fight, both here and abroad — because unity is what marriage is all about.

This is the point that NOM's Chairman of the Board, Prof. John Eastman, made in a recent press interview regarding the National Cathedral's sad decision to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in its hallowed halls. Same-sex marriage is not a value that unites us, as its advocates claim: instead, it is deeply divisive, as the Episcopal Church is finding out all too painfully right now:

And so we, the defenders of marriage, continue to stand in unity, as Americans and with all marriage supporters worldwide!

Pray for the people of France and Great Britain who are fighting back against the elites.

And pray for all of us standing on the front lines for marriage.

The fight continues!

By Brian Brown | Posted in France, NOM Marriage News, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (11)

Video: Frigide Barjot's Rousing Pro-Marriage Speech in France!

January 17, 2013 – 1:00 pm

Frigide Barjot, a French humorist, columnist and socialite, is a somewhat unlikely hero for marriage but a hero she has become!

At the rally for marriage last Sunday, she led a spirited public recitation of diverse voices calling on President Hollande to acknowledge their points and understand the damage his proposal to redefine marriage will cause to French children and culture should it be passed:

Here are a couple excerpts from a translation:

"...The marriage for all is a juridical denial of the most elementary reality of humanity, constituted as it is "man and woman", the only union naturally capable of siring new life.

You, President of the Republic -- Will you be the one to float a travesty--that a human being can be born of two men or of two women? "Marriage for all" inscribes fundamental discrimination into our law among children, an inequality between children who will be born of a mother and a father, and children who will be born of two fathers, and children who will be born of two mothers.

...You, President of the Republic, dialogue, working together, participatory democracy, you cannot refuse any longer the growing demand for debate, free of homophobia, which has been expressed in all the countries of the world, by means of these citizen gatherings. You have before you, on the Champ de Mars, a wide representation of the French people.

... The people ask you, Mr. President of the Republic, to SUSPEND without further delay this bill for marriage and adoption for all. It rips apart our country. The people ask you today to convoke a General Estate of the Family, Marriage, Lineage, and the Rights of the Child. In doing so we gesture toward reconciliation and coming together as a nation. We bring this to you peacefully and obediently!"

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, France, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (5)

Cartoon Lampoons French President's Refusal to Acknowledge Size of Pro-Marriage Opposition

January 17, 2013 – 12:00 pm

President Hollande is attempting to claim there were 2/3rds less than the actual number of pro-marriage demonstrators last Sunday.

This french cartoon translated reads:

Advisor: "There are more than 1 million, Mr. President."

President Hollande: "We will say that they are only 340,000. After all, this law is to end with what is real, isn't it?"

By NOM Staff | Posted in France, Humor, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off

BCN: Nearly One Million March for Marriage in Paris

January 17, 2013 – 11:30 am

Actually, event organizers peg the attendance at over 1,000,000:

World Congress of Families (WCF) hailed Sunday's march for traditional, natural marriage in Paris. WCF Managing Director Larry Jacobs commented: "Hundreds of thousands marched in Paris yesterday, in bitterly cold temperatures, to oppose plans by President Francois Hollande to force a bill legalizing so-called same-sex marriage through the parliament. Yesterday's march, supported by the French Catholic hierarchy, was an impassioned outpouring in defense of marriage, children, and the natural family. It demonstrates, once again, that the push for 'same-sex marriage' is driven by elites and rejected by the overwhelming majority of families worldwide."

...Jacobs concluded: "We congratulate the organizers of the Paris march and declare our solidarity with efforts to defend natural marriage in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and wherever such efforts are underway. Just as the campaign to undermine marriage . . . is international in scope, the defense of natural marriage must stretch across national boundaries to embrace families everywhere." (Breaking Christian News)