France has agreed to ban foreign nationals from Algeria, Bosnia & Herzigovina, Cambodia, Laos, Montenegro, Morocco, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Tunisia and the region of Kosovo from getting wed under its new marriage equality law.
Radio France Internationale reports:
In a circulaire (recommendation note) presented to French civil servants stipulating how the new marriage law should be applied, the note stated that nationals from 11 countries are subjected to marriage laws in their home countries because of bilateral conventions signed in the past with France.
Unsurprisingly, none of those countries allow same-sex marriage, though these agreements were signed decades ago to regulate immigrant workers and French nationals living abroad. Their application to marriage is being called discriminatory because it denies marriage equality based on nationality. Ex-patriots with French partners are also banned from getting married unless they legally become French.
“As millions of gay people in France now have the right to marry, we’re still denied,” a Polish man engaged to his French boyfriend told Gay Star News. “It’s an outdated and unfair rule that because my home country is still homophobic, I have to suffer the consequences.”
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madisonreed
Will someone check for me to find out if a USA-Belarusian same-sex couple would be able to marry in France, and email me or post to my Facebook page to let me know? My partner and I have had no way to marry for years!
jata
Is “ex-patriot” a term/category I’m just not familiar with, or is it supposed to be “expatriate,” as in a person who permanently lives in a place other than the one they were born/grew up in?
2eo
@madisonreed: I’d wager in spite of the enormous race backlash in France against Eastern Europeans you’ll meet more obstacles being an American than a fellow European.
That aside, I’d be surprised if you’d be denied a ceremony.
gurrrlplease
Region of Kosovo??? It is a county. -Queer expat working in Kosovo
Merv
@jata: Anti-gay discrimination turns patriots into ex-patriots.
DonW
@jata: Queerty, I love you, you are a fabulous news source but I really wish you’d do some copy editing. Please, please, please learn the difference between “its” and “it’s,” for starters.
Mofdgheb
Queerty is run by illiterates.