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By Diana Luna
French PACS
WHAT ARE PACS?The Civil Solidarity Pact law (PACS), is essentially “a contract concluded between two physical persons who have reached the age of majority, of different or the same gender, for the purposes of organizing their life in common.”
PACS vs. Marriage • File joint tax returns• Share common property
rights • Enjoy same social
welfare and inheritance advantages
• Held accountable for each other’s debts
PACS vs. Marriage • No possibility
guardianship, joint adoption, or access to medical assisted procreation
• Doesn’t accord partner automatic immigration rights
• Union registered in court, not in City Hall
• No dissolution process
TIMELINE:
Contract D’union Sociale was introduced
1992
First partnership
law proposed
1990
Court ruled against
extension of benefits to
homosexuals 1989
TIMELINE:
New PACS proposal passed
Oct. 1999
Draft rejected
Oct. 1998
First draft of PACS written
1998
Conservative Opposition• Huge rallies
organized by conservative groups
• Demonstrations called for by several “pro-family” organizations
• In Feb. 1998, Paris rally drew 200,000 demonstrators
The Church’s Response• Undermines the
sanctity of marriage
• Doesn’t produce children
• Undermines morality
“One cannot ignore… that this legislation is just the first step, for example, towards the adoption of children by people in a homosexual relationship… We fear for the future and we regret what has just happened.”- Louis Marie Bille, head of the Council of French Bishops
Foucaultian Lens• Language of
discourse
• Power/knowledge
• Negative relation
THE BIBLE SAYS SO…
The Policing of Marriage?
Voulez-vous `pacser' avec moi?"
Changing State of Affairs• Change from
marriage to cohabitation in last 30 years
• French marriage rate fallen more than 30% in past generation
• 40% of children born out of wedlock
• In 2007, 75% of civil unions signed between heterosexual couples
• 175,000 PACS were registered in 2009, of which 95% were heterosexual
• 2 civil unions for every 3 marriages
Some Numbers: