The French Senate voted today (April 12, 2013) to legalize same-sex marriage in France, putting a landmark bill on track to become law by summer, according to the Associated Press website. France's lower legislative branch had already voted in favor of same-sex marriage.
The vote in the upper house of Parliament -- led by President Francois Hollande's Socialists -- comes despite boisterous protests. Opponents -- mostly conservatives and fervent Roman Catholics -- had sought to defend traditional marriage.
France's justice minister -- one of the bill's loudest supporters -- said the reform recognizes that many children are already living with same-sex parents and deserve the same protections afforded children of opposite-sex parents.
"These are children that scrape their knees, eat too much candy, don't like broccoli, drive you crazy... we protect them," Christine Taubira told senators following the vote. The justice minister added the reform will "move our institutions towards even more freedom, equality, and personal respect."
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