French Reject Marriage Equality

As a staunch francophile, I'm sad to say that the French Parliament rejected the Socialist Party proposal to make same-sex marriage legal in France.  The effort was led by politicians hoping to put France on the same level as neighboring Spain and Belgium, but Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP faction defeated the law in the Parliament, leaving Socialist MPs to swear for a renewed effort in 2012.

"The house, dominated by the ruling right-wing UMP party, voted by 293 votes to 222 to block the bill, with most left-wing lawmakers backing it and most of the right opposed.

"'We are against homophobia but we do not want to alter the image and function of marriage in the collective subconscious,' said UMP lawmaker Michel Diefenbacher."

Dear France: You're my favorite, and a really stinkin' gay-ass country.  Can we please get it together?  Stop worrying about the "collective subconscious" and start worrying about giving French citizens equal protections under the law.  I'm pullin' for ya!

[France24]