Michael Dorstewitz
BizPac Review
3/26/2013
Demonstrators pack Champs-Elysées. Photo credit LifeSiteNews.com
Nearly 1.5 million proponents of traditional marriage gathered Sunday on Paris’ famous thoroughfare, the Champs-Elysées, to protest the French government’s plans to legalize same-sex marriage.
The demonstration came as America’s own high court prepared this week to take up two gay marriage cases — one state and one federal — with gay marriage advocates calling the union a fundamental right. Many Parisians, meanwhile, have been saying non to the idea loud and clear.
When the venue for Sunday’s demonstration — the third protest in five months -– was first announced, the French government nixed it, according to LifeSiteNews. Police issued orders not to march on the Champs-Elysées, making the denial official with an emergency ruling issued on the Wednesday before the event.
“Frigide Barjot, the demonstration’s figurehead, had previously announced that even if access to the Champs-Elysées were to be forbidden the March would go there all the same,” the LifeSiteNews story said. And it did.
When Parisian police realized that the march would proceed despite orders to the contrary, they estimated the potential crowd at 100,000. But about 1.4 million demonstrators showed up.
Despite the demonstrations, the French government is proceeding with plans to allow same-sex marriage, with legislation spearheaded by Socialist President Francois Hollande…
The article, with video, continues at BizPac Review.
