France to inaugurate first same sex wedding on Wednesday

             
France will inaugurate its first ever gay marriage on Wednesday with Vincent Autin, 40, the president of Lesbian and Gay Pride Montpellier, and his partner of seven years, Bruno, 30.            

 France is the 14th country to legalize gay marriage. In the United States, Washington, D.C., and 12 states have legalized same-sex marriage.        

Clashes broke out in Paris on Sunday after protests against a recently passed law allowing gay marriage had taken place in the French capital.              

Three anti-gay marriage marches set off from different parts of Paris earlier in the day, with tens of thousands participating peacefully.              

Later clashes between far-right activists and police broke out, with some of the protesters throwing glass bottles at journalists.              

The gay marriage law came into force over a week ago, but organisers decided to go ahead with the long-planned demonstration to show their continued opposition as well as their frustration with President Francois Hollande, who had made legalising gay marriage one of his keynote campaign pledges in last year's election.   


LBCI/AP