Tens of thousands march for 'family values' in Paris, Bordeaux
October 5, 2014
Waving pink flags that depict a man and woman holding hands with a boy and a girl, tens of thousands of French protestors marched on Paris and Bordeaux on Sunday, calling for a universal ban on surrogacy and a law prohibiting artificial insemination for lesbian couples.
The protests were organized by the conservative group "Manif pour Tous" ("Protest for Everyone"), which organized the unsuccessful demonstrations against same-sex marriage last year. The group's president, Ludovine de la Rochere, said that medically assisted procreation for lesbians must be "fought at all costs."
The marches drew 70,000 supports in Paris and 7,500 in Bordeaux, according to police estimates. Organizers were much more optimistic, putting the numbers at 500,000 and 30,000, respectively.
Before the rally, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls attempted to diffuse the situation, emphasizing that surrogacy "is and will remain banned in France."
The protestors were not placated, however, and likened techniques such as surrogacy and artificial insemination to industrialization. Slogans such as "A woman is not a baby-machine" were emblazoned on the demonstrators' banners.
A counter-demonstration in Paris' Place de la Republique brought only a few hundred people out into the rain, though an Ifop poll published on the website of French news website Atlantico on Sunday showed that only 31 percent of the country support the values of "Manif pour Tous."
The "family values" group launched a massive campaign against same-sex marriage, and even claimed to have called 1.4 million demonstrators to the streets of Paris last year. Despite this, President Francois Hollande signed same-sex marriage into law in April 2013, making France the fourteenth country in the world to legalize homosexual unions.
es/kms (AFP, dpa)