Catholic Extremists
France's gay marriage law,"un Mariage pour Tous" (Wedding for all), one of François Hollande’s campaign promises, is hotly debated in the National Assembly (the lower chamber). Protests supporting the law have been numerous.
France being a modern, west European country, it was expected that such a law would go through without any major controversy. Many French people argue that countries like Spain where 23,3% of the population is irreligious (as opposed to 48,5% for France) had already legalized marriage since 2005, and that France was lagging behind on the matter.
To the surprise of many, demonstrations against gay marriage have also been numerous, drawing Catholics, but also “traditional” right wing supporters into the streets. 340 000 of them walked the streets of Paris on January the 13th, 2013. This figure surpassed the pro-marriage demonstrations in the Capital, which averaged 125 000. François Holland, however explained that he would not “let the street decide” and “the minds and opinions are changing […] in many neighboring countries, this evolution has taken place”.
January 29th, 2013, was the day the first debates in the National Assembly regarding the law. Civitas, a catholic group known for regrouping royalists, nationalists, decided to pray in front of the assembly so that “God may come to help the families”.
In France, praying in public has been illegal since 2011.