France Protests Against Gay Rights

Original Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/13/world/europe/france-marriage-rights-protest/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

In France, by the Eiffel Tower, this past Sunday, hundreds of thousands angry and ignorant people gathered to speak out against human rights. You may be thinking, that the title of this article specifies gay rights, well that's exactly gay rights are, they are human rights. I am very proud to be Canadian, because although it is not a perfect country, it is (at least in my opinion) better at human and social advancements. America has a huge problem with same sex relationships and marriages. Europe is usually not thought to be that prejudiced, yet here France is, carrying the flag in the name of ignorance. Now, I realize I might sound a bit angry towards France as a whole, and I totally understand that this is not the fault of France at all. It is the fault of certain people, unfortunately, there are many of these people. The President of France, Francois Hollande, had campaigned this issue when he was running, and he has held true. He has offered a bill that is expected to be passed soon that gives the LGBT community more rights, the main one being the ability to marry. Finally! I am ashamed that I live in a world that is so advanced as this one, yet still struggles with things like gay rights.

Some of these protesters argue that gay rights are wrong because of what the Bible says about traditional marriage. I'm not going to even really address that point in detail, because the Bible says a lot of things about marriage, and most people don't agree with them nowadays. But these protesters weren't just Christians, there were Muslims (who also have very interesting laws of marriage in the Qur'an) and people of the Jewish culture. Now of course, I'm not blaming solely religion, that would be very prejudiced of myself. I blame this reaction to a variety of things, including but not limited to religion. Some others include parental guidance and a bad upbringing, ignorance (which in this day, is a choice), and a few other minor things.

Again, I have nothing against France or the French people, but these hundreds of thousands who protested this long awaited bill, are the reasons this world isn't where it could be.