Francois Hollande's stunning victory on
Sunday over incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy was also a nod for
gay marriage in France.
For the first time in a generation,
France will be led by a Socialist president. Hollande's win strikes
a blow to the country's current austerity course. The
president-elect has promised to boost spending at home and push
European leaders to loosen the financial reigns of the Eurozone
economy.
Polls also show Socialists possibly
winning both houses of Parliament during a two-round election on June
10 and 17.
A Hollande administration backed by
Socialist majorities would mean good news for supporters of France
becoming the eleventh nation to legalize gay marriage.
While Sarkozy promised in 2007 to
reform PACS, a form of domestic partnership which offers
significantly fewer protections to gay and lesbian couples than
marriage, into something closer to Britain's civil partnership, the
law has not changed.
Hollande has said as president he would
pursue legislation which would legalize marriage for gay couples.
As the campaigns closed in on the
finish line, rumors surfaced that an increasingly desperate Sarkozy
would reverse course to back marriage equality. However, Sarkozy
remained steady, saying just last month that “For me, a family is a
father and a mother, not two fathers or two mothers.”