In 2013, they were fierce opponents of the bill that paved the way for same-sex marriage. Today, they claim to have another position on the subject.
Cascading backpedals. On April 23, 2013, the bill on marriage for all was adopted by 331 votes for and 225 against in the National Assembly, after heated debates in the hemicycle and a strong protest from opponents in the streets. Since then, many right-wing political figures, sometimes virulent with regard to the project carried by the left then in power, have reconsidered the position they defended at the time.
“Many elected officials have amended themselves”, confirms with AFP Arnaud Alessandrin, sociologist and co-author of Marriage for all: the violence of a conquest (ed. The edge of the water). “But what many of them are saying is that society has equated marriage for all, when there has never been a majority against”. He adds that “if the state of opinion had been different, perhaps they would have continued to support the repeal of the law”.
Ten years to the day after the adoption of the law, franceinfo makes the rounds of these elected officials, ministers or ex-ministers, sometimes eminent members of the UMP in 2012-2013 and who today say they are in favor of marriage between people of the same sex.
Gérald Darmanin admits he was “mistaken”
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, admitted to having “deceived” by opposing ten years ago the law authorizing marriage for all, in an interview published Thursday, April 20 by The voice of the North. “If I had to do it again, I would vote for the text”, said the former mayor of Tourcoing, who had declared in 2013, when he was a UMP deputy from the North, that he would not marry same-sex couples.
“Ten years later, I was able to see that same-sex marriage, like adoption by homosexual couples, does not change anything and that the fears that had been exposed by the right, and in particular in my political family, were unfounded”, added the former member of the Republicans in this interview.
Christophe Béchu follows the movement
Guest of “4 Vérités” on France 2 on Friday, the day after the declarations of Gérald Darmanin, the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, also a former member of the Les Républicains party, assured that“Today, [il] would vote yes” to the change in the law which allows same-sex couples to unite.
In 2016, Christophe Béchu, then LR mayor of the city of Angers (Maine-et-Loire), had a poster campaign raising awareness against HIV transmission and featuring same-sex couples removed in his town. “Such a campaign in adult magazines would not shock me. But on billboards in front of primary schools, yes”, he had declared at the time to France 3 Pays de la Loire.
Catherine Vautrin makes her mea culpa
Catherine Vautrin, ex-minister under the Villepin and Raffarin governments, was approached to occupy Matignon last year. But her controversial positions on marriage for all when she was UMP deputy for Marne may have cost her the post of Prime Minister. Friday, she, in turn, changed her tune. “Anticipating society’s expectations is a major political issue. Ten years ago, by not voting for marriage for all, I missed this meeting which has now become obvious”, she wrote on Twitter. “The law accompanies those who want to live their happiness and that’s a very good thing.”
Eric Ciotti does not “wish to return” to the law
The current president of the Republicans (LR) Eric Ciotti was, in 2012, one of the main figures of La Manif pour tous and opposed the marriage of same-sex couples. “On marriage for all, I might not have the same attitude today. Today, I say it clearly, I think that this text is within the law and that we should not go back on it”he commented in July 2017 on Europe 1, four years after the adoption of the law.
Jean-François Copé evokes “the only great regret of [sa] political life”
He was then the president of the UMP. Ten years later, Jean-François Copé affirmed, at the end of March in The Sunday newspaperwhat to have “voted against marriage for all is the only great regret of [sa] political life”. He said he had “made this choice to gather [son] camp”, divided at the time. “It was the only time in my life where I voted against myself… Ten years later, I think the page has turned to the right“he further alleged.
Christian Estrosi considers the law “a step forward”
After opposing marriage for all in 2013, Christian Estrosi, then UMP deputy and mayor of Nice, estimated, in September 2014 on Canal +, that if the right regained power in 2017, it should not go back on the law, entry into the “practice” of the country, while considering the opening of marriage to persons of the same sex as “breakthrough”.
Eric Woerth assures that marriage for all “is part of the natural landscape”
Like many right-wing politicians, Eric Woerth voted against the law ten years ago. It was not “against marriage as such, but rather against the rights it gives in filiation”now justifies the one who joined the presidential majority of Emmanuel Macron with our colleagues from the Parisian. Today is not “no longer a subject”, according to him. “Society has evolved, marriage for all has settled in rather well and is part of the natural landscape”defends the member of the Oise.
Valérie Pécresse says she “changed her mind” in 2014
The LR candidate for the 2022 presidential election demonstrated with the La Manif pour tous movement in 2012-2013. A Member of Parliament at the time, she had even considered “unmarry” people already united by favoring “civil union status”. However, invited by Itélé the following year, the current president of the Ile-de-France region ensured “having changed your mind simply because” she has “thoughtful”.