At a debate organized by a conservative group yesterday, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy told supporters that the country's same-sex marriage law should be repealed.

The Guardian reports:

Referring to the “mariage pour tous” or “marriage for all” legislation passed by France’s Socialist government last year, he said it needed “rewriting from top to bottom”.

His comments prompted catcalls from the 3,000-strong audience of the group Common Sense, and cries of “Repeal! Repeal!”. Sarkozy, appearing rattled, responded: “If you’d rather one says repeal the law and make another one … in French, that’s saying the same thing. It comes to the same result.

“But hey, if that makes you happy, then frankly, it doesn’t cost much.”

Sarkozy went on to say that he was in favour of some form of marriage for same-sex couples, but something different from that for heterosexuals, and that he opposed surrogacy for same-sex couples. [...]

Sarkozy’s comment and apparent policy-making on the hoof brought angry reactions from the governing Socialist party, which accused him of “appealing to the most reactionary instincts of his core supporters”. A spokesperson said Sarkozy wanted to create “a new form of segregation” with his two-tier marriage proposal.

Sarkozy is in the midst of an attempted political comeback and is vying to lead the country's centre-right UMP party into the 2017 presidential election. 

Back in September, during his first television interview since announcing his intention to return to politics, Sarkozy accused the socialist government of "humiliating families and humiliating people who love the family" by introducing the legislation allowing same-sex marriage. 

Sarkozy is on his third marriage.

A French mayor who condemned and mocked same-sex marriage has officiated his own son’s gay wedding

Despite being a long-standing critic of same-sex marriage, Raymond Bardet, mayor of Ville-la-Grand in south-eastern France, officiated the ceremony last Saturday.

He told the Dauphiné Libéré: “My son was getting married, there was no question of letting anyone else do it.

“If I had asked a deputy to celebrate the marriage, people could have thought that I was criticising my son or that we had fallen out.

“Only two and a half months ago I discovered that my son was gay.

“I am his father and I would be the one to celebrate his union, as I would have done for his sister.

“I didn’t know his partner, but he’s a good person and they make a beautiful couple together. I saw two smart men, very content together.

“We always think that it doesn’t affect us, that was my way of seeing things, I never questioned it.”

In January of last year he lampooned same-sex marriage with a mock wedding between his communications officer and general services manager, who was clad in a bridal veil.

However, Bardet has not changed his principles on gay marriage, saying, “No, I have not changed my mind, I think this is not what nature intended.”

He also said: “I will never do any other gay marriages; I did it because it’s my son.”

Naked men to display assets at Musée d'Orsay

The glory of the male form is the focus of Paris's Musee d'Orsay programme this autumn, with hundreds of naked men waiting to adorn its illustrious walls: all in the name of art, of course.

The "Masculin/Masculin" exhibition will exhibit 200 works about male nudes from as far back as 1800, and the art crowd in the French capital is already buzzing about the "out of favour" male physique finally going on show in one of the world's greatest museums.

For Guy Cogeval, the Orsay's president, the subject was overdue for some real exposure. "I've wanted to explore this theme for a long time, since I was director of the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Montreal 15 years ago. I suggested doing it but it was explained to me that it would be frowned upon," he said.

Cogeval said he had "already received quite a few calls to find out what it was all about," as he put the finishing touches to the exhibition before doors open on September 24.

Inspired by Vienna's Leopold Museum, which held a male nudes exhibition in autumn 2012, Cogeval was keen to emphasise that just 20 of the same works would be put on display in his own.

But the Orsay programme will include one artwork that did not go down well in Vienna, even though it was only used to advertise the event: French duo Pierre & Gilles' "Vive La France" from 2006, which depicts three football players with their manhoods proudly displayed.

The advert caused such consternation in the Austrian capital that the offending areas had to be covered by a red rectangle.

The museum has opted for a more demure work by Pierre & Gilles as one of the adverts to highlight the current exhibition on the Paris metro, a portrait of the Greek god Mercury, portrayed from behind, wearing only a helmet.

"Masculin/Masculin" will feature painting, sculpture, and "a lot of photography", Cogeval said, as "one of our themes is the homoerotic, which is a thread throughout the exhibition".

"The first big artists who were openly gay were generally photographers," he explained, citing 19th century gay pioneers Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden, a German who worked mainly in Italy, and the American Fred Holland Day.

The male nude, Cogeval believes, is "no longer possible to ignore", and the Orsay programme features many staunchly heterosexual artists such as Angel Zarraga, Paul Flandrin, Jacques-Louis David and Anne Louis Girodet celebrating men at their most natural.

"It's male beauty in all its glory," he said.

The museum's director is open about the possibility for controversy, and laughs as he says he "hopes" conservative family-values groups stage protests against the exhibit.

"We hadn't thought about it but there could be some reaction," he said. 

"Among those groups that protested gay marriage and who we saw really overdoing it on the streets, there will probably be people who aren't very happy that we're doing an exhibition like this."

The autumn programme was planned far in advance of the angry protests that stole headlines in France earlier this year, and "Masculin/Masculin" is intended to make people think, "to amuse them and to surprise them", and not to push an agenda, Cogeval said. "It's not political."

UPDATE: Putin's Drag Artist Seeks Assylum

Konstantin Altunin, the Russian artist who made headlines this week after his gallery was shut down and paintings depicting Vladimir Putin and PM Dmitry Medvedev in lingerie were seized, has fled Russia and is seeking asylum in France, Radio Free Europe reports:

In a telephone interview from Paris, Altunin said he does not want to return to Russia.

"Today, I appealed to the French prefecture in Paris because I have no other [option]. I would gladly get [local residence and work permits] so that I can be useful to France and to work and pay taxes," he said. "But now, I am forced to request political asylum because I fled very quickly without luggage or money."

Altunin says that the gallery's organizers have been arrested:

"The organizers have been arrested, although they have nothing to do with this as it is I who is to blame," Altunin said. "They detained them until 3 o'clock at night, then took them to a police station. There was a young woman among them and they were practically bullying her. What is this?"

Altunin said he had already fled when the police arrived at his apartment to arrest him. He has a wife and  a two-year-old daughter at home:

"My wife is in tears and my 2-year-old child keeps asking where daddy is," he said. "What kind of PR can we talk about here? Of course, deputies simply have nothing better to do than close exhibits and confiscate pictures. This needs no further comment, really. Such a situation is possible only in Russia.” 

The seized paintings also featured the head of the Russian Orthodox Church covered in tattoos, and Vitaly Milonov, co-author of Russia's bill banning gay propaganda, together with a rainbow flag.

Same-sex marriage: A surprising contrast between Britain and France

The French like to make fun of the British, joking about their repressed ways in matters of the heart. But when it came time to debate same-sex marriage, it was France that betrayed a deep conservative streak in sometimes violent protests — while the British showed themselves to be modern and tolerant.

With little fanfare or controversy, Britain announced Wednesday that Queen Elizabeth II — hardly a social radical — had signed into law a bill legalizing same-sex marriages in England and Wales.

France has also legalized same-sex marriage, but only after a series of gigantic protests attracting families from the traditional heartland that revealed a deeply split society.

Thousands of anti-gay marriage protestors gather during a demonstration
in Paris on May 26 against French President Francois Hollande’s social
reform on gay marriage and adoption.

Official word that the queen had approved the bill drew cheers in the usually sedate House of Commons. “This is a historic moment that will resonate in many people’s lives,” Equalities Minister Maria Miller said in a statement. “I am proud that we have made it happen and I look forward to the first same sex wedding by next summer.”

There were British political figures and religious leaders vehemently opposed to gay marriage but the opposition never reached a fever pitch, in part because the same-sex marriage bill had broad public support and the backing of the leaders of the three major political parties.

In fact, it was Prime Minister David Cameron, leader of the tradition-minded Conservatives, who proposed the legislation in the first place. The public seemed to take it for granted that gay marriage should be a part of British life. It was perhaps a sign of how Britain has evolved in past decades into a much more cosmopolitan nation than its starchy, traditionalist image would suggest.

“The opposition seemed restricted to a very small number of people very vigorous in their views,” said Steven Fielding, a political scientist at the University of Nottingham. “It was restricted to the back benchers of the Conservative Party. It wasn’t shared across the political spectrum. It was an issue whose time had come. To oppose it seemed slightly strange.” The law was also written in a way that allowed the Church of England — which is opposed — to sidestep the controversy since it is explicitly barred from conducting same-sex marriages.

Eiffel Tower Celebrates Marriage Equality on Bastille Day

The Eiffel Tower was bathed in rainbow colors during yesterday's Bastille Day celebration in Paris to mark the legalization of same-sex marriage in France this year.

Pathetic and Funny

You may recognize the marriage equality protest group "Hommen" as the young men who parade around in public wearing white masks and words scrawled across their half-naked bodies. This time, they've taken to the beach in Montpellier, apparently to draw some sort of parallel to the D-Day invasion in Normandy. Except for the fact that there only appear to be five of them (six if you count the cameraman)...in a single inflatable raft.

The video, posted by the YouTube account "Tony Montpellier", begins by displaying a quote from Sun Tzu, which, roughly translated from French, means "the art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting". It then shows footage of the young men "storming" the beach, accompanied by an epic orchestral score, before unfurling a banner that reads "Free Nicolas" and lighting a few flares. The "Nicolas" in question was an anti-gay protester, who caused a stir last month when he was arrested outside of a television studio and subsequently sent to jail.

The score is from the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare soundtrack. I wonder if they got permission to use it.

That's SOO gay!

Yes, I know I did a post about saying "that's so gay on Saturday. I'm  using that title to make a point.

Homoerotic anti-”gay marriage” protesters disrupt French Open finals

An anti-gay coalition in France of the religious right, Catholic church and opposition party UMP disrupted the finals of the French Open tennis tournament today at Roland Garros. Ostensible, they were protesting France’s recent legalization of gay marriage, but now that gay marriage is legal in France, the protests are rather moot.

A bunch of half-naked buff young guys, wearing carnival masks, streaked on the tennis court, and held signs, while holding flares.  You can only see one in the video below.  Buzzfeed has photos of the other protesters, and an excellent demonstration of the homoeroticism of France’s Catholic church/UMP.

The French religious right has been using this leit-motif of buff half-naked men in Mardi Gras masks, to protest gay marriage, for a while now.  And it’s more than a bit odd.  Do you remember France’s unitard bird-man “flash mob” for traditional marriage from  a few months ago?  Yeah, nothing gay about that:

Here are more gayer-than-gayer religious right protesters via the Advocate magazine.

Tight pants, muscled physique.  It’s like all the homo and none of the phobe.

You see, France legalized gay marriage a few weeks ago, and the French right has been beside itself over its defeat and the gays’ victory.  Much like the American Republican party’s Frankenstein coalition with the Catholic church, the evangelicals, and the Mormons, the French right-wing UMP party also hitched its wagon to the anti-gay prejudice of France’s minuscule religious right, mostly led by the Catholic church, and allied with America’s anti-gay marriage right, led by NOM.

As it became increasingly clear that the French parliament was going to pass marriage equality, France’s  anti-gay right became more and more violent.

First, religious right protesters violently attacked the French police, and then used their own pre-school age children as human shields against tear gas, which was ironic in a protest supposedly devoted to saving the children.

Then came the fascist-salute crowd attacking the police.

Then came an attack on Paris’ main LGBT center.

Then the threats to kill gays, and hate crimes against French gays.

Then, powder-laced letters were sent to the head of the parliament.

All the while, France’s religious right leader, and the Catholic church’s top leader in France, both seemed to make excuses for the violence.

Then skinheads murder a young French poli-sci student who had just participated in pro-gay rallies in Paris, and the religious right blames gay marriage supporters for the 18 year old’s death – after all, the religious right says, this wold have never happened had the government not legalized gay marriage.

The French Open is rather sacrosanct in France.  And attacking it, during the finals, is not exactly the wisest move if you’re interested in winning French public opinion.  The problem is, it’s not clear what the right-wing coalition of the Catholic church and France’s UMP want, other than, seemingly, to foment violence, hatred and intolerance in what was once thought of as one of Europe’s more tolerant countries, at least sexually.

French religious right: Kid wouldn’t be dead from hate crime if you hadn’t legalized gay marriage

The leader of the French religious right, Frigide Barjot, said today that 18 year old pro-gay college student Clément Méric would not have been killed in a vicious attack by right wing skinheads had France not recently legalized gay marriage.

Comedienne Frigide Barjot (who works under a pseudonym that’s apparently a sexual pun on the name of the French actress, Brigitte Bardot), is the leader of France’s anti-gay right, that includes the Catholic church and the lead conservative party in France, the UMP (for lack of a better comparison, France’s Republican party).

Unlike America, France is not a very religious country.  But like America, France’s right-wing parties have latched on to legislative gay-bashing as a means of unifying the right at the ballot box.  Sadly, in response to the right’s hysteria-building over gay marriage, anti-gay violence – and overall terror threats against the government – have increased of late.

Things have gotten so bad in the French right that Barjot herself refused to attend the latest official anti-gay protest, for fear of the extremists that are attempting to take over her movement.

Today we learned that 18 year old Clément Méric, a pro-gay college student attending the prestigious Sciences Po in Paris, succumbed to injuries recently sustained at the hands of three skinheads at a Paris train station.  (Violent crimes are relatively uncommon in France, as compared to the US, though that’s been changing of late.)

More at AmericaBlog

Marriage Equality News Abounds Today!

Check out the news today from:

• Nevada
• Rhode Island
• Delaware
• France

Hoping all the votes go in the right direction! Peace, Love EQUALITY!

BREAKING: France's National Assembly approves marriage equality bill!

Letter Containing Gunpowder and Gay Marriage Threat Sent to Head of French Parliament

Wow. How Christian of those opposed to marriage equality in France.

From Towleroad:

The head of French parliament is being terrorized over the coming gay marriage vote on Tuesday, The Local reports:

Claude Bartolone, the Socialist president of France’s Assemblée Nationale (lower house of parliament) on Monday received a threatening letter containing gunpowder and demanding he defer a parliamentary vote, expected to definitively legalize gay marriage on Tuesday.

The one-page letter, signed by “an intermediary of law enforcement,” warns Bartolone that “our methods are more radical and more swift than protests”, according to French magazine L’Express.

The document concludes with the statement “You wanted war, and you’ve got it.”

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/#ixzz2RC2kcsuY