France: 1st article of same-sex marriage bill passes with ease

We're on our way! Vive la France!

From the BBC: The French National Assembly has approved the most important article of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Deputies voted 249-97 in favor of marriage as being an agreement between two people - not just between a man and a woman.

President Francois Hollande's Socialists and their left-wing supporters backed it, opposed by many opposition UMP and centrist MPs.

Correspondents say the ease with which the article passed suggests the bill as a whole will pass. Another key measure expected to pass would allow gay couples to adopt children.

Opinion polls suggest that around 55-60% of French people support gay marriage, though only about 50% approve of gay adoption.

All articles of the bill must be debated one by one, in a voting process that should take several days.

Then the entire bill goes to the French Senate, and hopefully to the French president for his signature. It's possible that France could make marriage equality a reality by Valentine's Day.

(via JMG)