The following article is from the Family Watch International Website
On Sunday, French citizens took to the streets in a massive demonstration to protest their president’s new bill to legalize same-sex marriage by June. Not only did French citizens demonstrate in their own capitol, but they also demonstrated in capitols around the world. Estimates of the crowds in Paris alone range from 500,000 to 800,000, with one official even estimating 1,300,000 participants! We understand some 5000 elected representatives also participated in the demonstrations. You can watch a video clip of the crowd as seen from the Eiffel Tower here. The photos of the demonstration provided by Maria Hildingsson, Secretary General of the Catholic Family Association in Europe, also show the massive number of people that filled the streets.
As you have probably read in the Family Watch clips highlighted in our newsletter, in recent months, there has been increasing turmoil in France over marriage. The victory of the socialists in the last election and the promise of President François Hollande to quickly legalize homosexual marriage set off this massive backlash. Hopefully, Hollande’s enthusiasm to legalize same-sex marriage has been dramatically dampened by this growing resistance.
Hollande himself is not married to his female partner who is reported to be someone else’s wife.
Ironically, a few years ago, the French National Assembly, the lower house of the country’s parliament, created a commission to look at what could be done to strengthen families and protect children in that country. Among its recommendations was that France not legalize homosexual marriage, not allow homosexuals to adopt children and not support same-sex couples who wanted to have children through artificial reproductive techniques. We have posted a summary of this report and the executive summary translated into English on the Family Policy Resource Center on our website.
The fact is, that in every place homosexual marriage has been legalized, same-sex marriage advocates have tried to cover up the scientific and historical evidence showing that generally 
men, women and children do best, according to all measurable indicators of well-being when they reside in a mother/father family and that any deviation from the model generally leads to negative outcomes for all involved.
Since we have found that when people understand these facts they will usually reject proposals to legalize homosexual marriage, our continuing challenge is to disseminate this information to good people everywhere that marriage is threatened.
Several years ago, when pro-family forces were trying to protect marriage in Spain, I had the privilege of speaking to a rally in Madrid that numbered over a million people. I can tell you that there is an energy in such gatherings that is tremendously inspiring and highly motivating.
I hope you feel as inspired as I am by this overwhelming show of support for marriage in France. The French have set an example that family defenders around the world can follow. We at Family Watch are ready and motivated to redouble our efforts to protect marriage and the family wherever we can. How about you?
Sincerely, 
Sharon Slater
President
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Should it? I know, we should be proud that our fellow Catholics have mobilised against homosexual and lesbian marriage in France .
However, I have to say that this is a diversion from the main concerns that pro-lifers should have- the right to life of the unborn child and preventing the decriminalisation of euthanasia and assisted ‘suicide’ (killing). How many unborn children were killed by abortion in France last year?
Dear Rhona,
We agree that issues concerning abortion and euthanasia are our prime concerns. However this does not mean we should be ignoring other ‘life issues’ which are currently impacting society. We will continue to do all we can to preserve the natural order and the traditional family, as erosion of the values inherent in these ‘pillars’ will impact us in ways we have not yet even conceived.
Right to Life
But is opposing homosexual and lesbian marriage a ‘life’ issue? At a time when the End of Life Choices Bill might be introduced to Parliament, surely we need to be focusing attention on that- as well as mourning all the unborn children lost to abortion over the forty years of Roe v Wade on January 21.
And I’m afraid that the no-homosexual-marriage lobby raises concerns that we need to respond to. We know that binding citizens referenda threaten the stealth decriminalisation of euthanasia- look at the excellent piece on Washington state’s already corrupted process that you’ve cited above. Yet the no-marriage lobby persists in arguing for it. In the interests of the sick, disabled and elderly threatened by euthanasia, we need to state firmly that the pro-life movement is opposed to these referenda.