FRANCE: Senate Approves Section One Of Marriage Bill By 179-157 Vote!

The most critical portion of France's marriage equality bill was approved late tonight by a vote of 179-157.  Here's how the news is reported on a French news site.

Le Sénat a adopté mardi soir par 179 voix contre 157 le premier article du projet de loi sur le mariage homosexuel, le plus important, celui qui ouvre le mariage aux personnes de même sexe. Cet article a été adopté "conforme", c'est-à-dire sans modification par rapport au vote en première lecture de l'Assemblée nationale. Ce vote devient donc définitif sauf si l'ensemble du projet de loi était rejeté à l'issue de son examen par le Sénat. Il ne sera pas soumis à une deuxième lecture de l'Assemblée nationale ni à la CMP (Commission mixte paritaire).

John Aravosis provides a recap:

The French Senate just voted on the most important provision of the proposed gay marriage law, and passed it. That means we’ve basically won. But there are still a few more steps before gay marriage is legal. Apparently, the way it works over there — and I’ve been conversing with a friend in Paris via Facebook for the blow-by-blow — the law is broken up into its component parts. And each part of the law gets voted on individually. In this case, the marriage part just got voted on and passed. The next step is for the other parts of the law to be voted on (it’s almost like voting on amendments, to put it in American parlance). Then, once all the parts are voted on, the Senate will one more time vote on the ENTIRE thing. But since they already voted in favor of the gay marriage portion of the law, passage of the entire pack is all but assured.

And that, it seems, is that! Nothing but bureaucracy from here on. Congratulations France!

UPDATE: Freedom To Marry reacts via press release.

France is poised to become the latest country -- 16 on four continents -- where loving and committed gay couples can share in the freedom to marry, and it won't be the last this year. Like France, the United States extols liberty, equality, and fairness; it is time for our country, too, to end the denial of marriage and live up to our best values.