News
French Senate approves same-sex marriage, adoption bill
Measure returns to the National Assembly next week for a final vote


More than 100,000 people marched through the streets of Paris on Jan. 29 in support of the bill. (Photo by Guillaume Bonnet/All Out)
The French Senate on Friday approved a bill that would extend marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples.
The simple vote came three days after lawmakers in the chamber approved an article within the measure that would specifically open marriage to gays and lesbians by a 179-157 vote margin. The senators on Wednesday approved the measure’s adoption provision.
Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, who testified in support of the proposal backed by President François Hollande in both the Senate and the National Assembly, applauded the senators who voted for the bill.
“I know at some point one can get burned out by the desire to intervene during the hearing,” she said as the newspaper L’Express reported, referring to the debate on the measure that began on April 2. “I know that you resisted this temptation. It is for carrying out this responsibility for which I want to salute you.”
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, who is gay, also welcomed the measure’s passage.
“It is with great satisfaction that I salute the Senate’s adoption of the ‘marriage for all’ bill,” he said in a statement.
The measure’s supporters and opponents staged several marches through the streets of Paris in recent months that each drew hundreds of thousands of people to the French capital.
Charles Roncier, a gay blogger who is an assistant editor-in-chief for the website VIH.org, told the Washington Blade from Paris earlier on Friday that LGBT rights advocates have become increasingly concerned about what they describe as homophobic rhetoric against the bill that includes claims it would allow people to marry objects and animals. They have used the Facebook images of Wilfred de Bruijn, a librarian whom the Associated Press said was beaten unconscious by a group of men as he and his boyfriend were walking to their home in the French capital on April 7, to highlight their claims that anti-gay attacks have increased as the lawmakers debated the same-sex marriage adoption proposal.
“It’s really weird because they were always insisting on the fact that they were not being homophobic,” Roncier said of the bill’s opponents.. “They did not want to be labeled as homophobes, but still at the same time the discourse and their words were homophobic.”
Neighboring Belgium and Spain are among the European countries in which same-sex couples can legally marry.
British lawmakers continue to debate a proposal that would extend marriage to gays and lesbians in England and Wales. Scottish legislators are also expected to consider a similar measure in the coming weeks.
A final vote on the measure in the French National Assembly, which approved it in February by a 329-229 vote margin, is expected to take place in the coming days.
Roncier said same-sex couples are “excited” about the prospect they could potentially be able to get married in France as early as next month.
“We used to be the minority who used to fight for our rights and for the first time I witnessed my minority being defended by the government and the majority of French people and against another minority who were against us,” he told the Blade. “It was very new and very touching.”
World Pride 2025
D.C. liquor board extends drinking hours for WorldPride
Gay bars, other liquor-serving establishments can stay open 24 hours

D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board, which regulates liquor sales for the city’s bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and other establishments licensed to serve alcoholic beverages, has approved extended hours for alcohol service and sales during the days when most WorldPride events will be held in the nation’s capital.
In a May 2 announcement, the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration, which works with the board, said the extended liquor serving and sales hours for WorldPride will take place beginning Friday, May 30, through 4 a.m. Monday, June 9.
Although the official schedule for WorldPride events shows the events will take place May 17-June 8, most of the large events, including a two-day Pride street festival, parade, and concert, were expected to take place between May 30 and June 8.
According to the ABCA announcement and an ABCA spokesperson, liquor servicing establishments with the appropriate license can stay open for 24 hours and serve alcoholic beverages from 6 a.m. through the day and evening until 4 a.m., with no liquor sales allowed from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. during the May 30-June 9 period.
The ABCA announcement says liquor serving establishments must apply for the extended hours option and pay a $100 registration fee by a deadline on May 27.
Sources familiar with the liquor board have said the board has for many years approved the extension of liquor serving and sales hours for important events and for certain holidays such as New Year’s Eve.
At the time it approved the extended hours for WorldPride the liquor board also approved extended hours during the time when games for a World Cup soccer tournament will be held in the city on June 18, June 22, and June 26.
It couldn’t immediately be determined how many of D.C.’s 22 LGBTQ bars plan to apply for the extended drinking hours. David Perruzza, owner of the Adams Morgan gay bar Pitchers and its adjoining lesbian bar A League of Her Own, said he will apply for the 4 a.m. extended hours option but he does not intend to keep the two bars open for the full 23 hours.
Under the city’s current alcoholic beverage regulations, licensed liquor serving establishments may serve alcoholic beverages until 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends.
The Vatican
Executive director of LGBTQ Catholic group to travel to Rome for conclave
Marianne Duddy-Burke met Pope Francis in 2023

The executive director of a group that represents LGBTQ Catholics will travel to Rome next week for the papal conclave that starts on May 7.
DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke on Thursday told the Washington Blade she will arrive in Rome on May 6. Duddy-Burke said she plans to spend time in St. Peter’s Square “and have conversations with people.”
“I will wear Dignity insignia, have rainbow flags,” she said.
Pope Francis died on April 21. His funeral took place five days later.
The Vatican’s tone on LGBTQ and intersex issues softened under the Argentine-born pope’s papacy, even though church teachings on homosexuality did not change.
Francis, among other things, described laws that criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations as “unjust” and supported civil unions for gays and lesbians. Transgender people were among those who greeted Francis’s coffin at Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica before his burial on April 26.
Duddy-Burke and two others from the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics met with Francis in October 2023 during a meeting that focused on the Catholic Church’s future. Duddy-Burke noted Francis “invited” her and her colleagues as his “special guests for the audience and then had a conversation with him afterwards.”
“For me the sort of visibility that he (Francis) brought to our community and to our concerns feels irreversible,” said Duddy-Burke. “He empowered so many people and so many new ministries.”
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu — the archbishop of Kinshasa in Congo who has described homosexuality as an “abomination” — is among the cardinals who are reportedly in the running to succeed Francis.
“I really don’t know,” said Duddy-Burke when the Blade asked her who the next pope will be. “Of course, I am hoping and praying hard that it will be someone who will continue to lead the church on responsiveness of human need and greater inclusivity.”
“What happens in that room is such a mystery,” she added.
World Pride 2025
Episcopal bishop to speak at WorldPride human rights conference
Trump demanded apology from Mariann Edgar Budde over post-Inauguration sermon

The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde is among those who are scheduled to speak at the WorldPride 2025 Human Rights Conference that will take place from June 4-6.
Budde, who is the bishop of the Diocese of Washington, in January urged President Donald Trump “to have mercy” on LGBTQ people, immigrants, and others “who are scared right now” during a post-Inauguration service that he and Vice President JD Vance attended at the Washington National Cathedral. Trump criticized Budde’s comments and demanded an apology.
The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde speaks at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 21, 2025. (PBS NewsHour clip)
A press release the Washington Blade received notes Icelandic Industries Minister Hanna Katrín Friðriksson, UK Black Pride founder Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, and Bob the Drag Queen are among those who are also expected to participate in the conference.
The conference will take place at the JW Marriott (1331 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.) and registration is open here.
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