Injustice to children

"To open a serious, in-depth national debate with the participation of all currents of thought on the theme of marriage, the family and adoption": it is the request presented by French bishops and Catholic family associations to the Hollande government after minister of Justice Christiane Taubira to the Catholic daily "La Croix" called for a draft law that containing a substantial change to the definition of marriage and parenthood. The draft law on "marriage and adoption for everyone" should be presented at the Council of Ministers on October 31st, but the issue is part of a ‘draft’ proposal which is currently being examined by the ministers, which the Catholic weekly "La Vie" published fully. The draft law. The draft proposal explains why legislators amend regulations on marriage and adoption. According to legislators, "the idea of opening the possibility of marriage to same-gender couples has progressed constantly after the vote of November 15 1999 on the civil covenant of solidarity (PACS), which French population-majority endorses". Thus while PACS responded to an authentic social need, this aspiration today requires a juridical tool that may respond to same-gender couples’ requests for marriage and adoption. The draft-law stipulates, as a general norm, that "marriage is a contract between two people of opposite sex or of the same sex". The document thus provides a set of regulations "aimed at providing coherence to Civil Code wording", i.e., the terms "father" and "mother" are suppressed and replaced with the more generic "parents" or "one of the parents". The same will apply to the terms "Grandmother and grandfather" (replaced with "grandparents"); for "mother and father-in-law" and "husband and wife" (replaced with the term ‘spouses’). An open, extensive debate. Called into question by the press on several occasions, Cardinal Andrè Vingt-Trois, president of the French Bishops’ Conference, archbishop of Paris, always underlined that the draft-law is aimed at a "radical transformation of the concept of marriage and the family". This transformation "will inevitably have practical effects on the daily lives of children and adults". Thus the archbishop calls for a "deeper reflection and a more open debate" on this issues mentioned in the draft-bill. Not a referendum but a debate where everyone can take part, on the wake of the experience made last year on bioethical themes. Family associations. The national conference of Catholic families’ association is on the same wavelength of archbishop Vingt-Trois, and asks its members to ratify a petition, namely, to write an email to politicians, asking for an extensive public debate on this issue. "The agenda – the letter states – seems to have failed to prioritize concerted action" on marriage and the family, "indispensable in the case of such a delicate theme". "There is no other way to measure the breadth and the complexities of the reform at stake. If the proposal presented by the Minister of Justice were adopted, a large number of Civil Code articles would have to be rewritten. And apart from juridical aspects, this question involves the very future of our society". Associations are calling for the interruption of the adoption process, so that the theme may "not be considered too hastily". Individual good is at stake. The draft law caused criticism across France. The bishop of Versailles, Msgr. Eric Aumonier, in a letter to the dioceses asked Catholics to "respectfully" write to national politicians, competent ministers, to the Prime Minister and to the president of the Republic asking them to hold a serious debate on this issue, for a thorough "reflection on the issue without pressures". As a bishop, he added, "I can’t remain silent". The Church plays a monitoring role, by sensitizing consciences "especially when the foundations of our society are called into question and when the good of individuals is at stake". He added: "in this case the good of the child should come first and not after the fulfillment of a personal want expressed by adults. There is no thing like the "right to a child". Rather, there exists the "right of the child to be defended and protected". As regards the draft bill, the bishop wrote: the proposal does not wipe out discrimination. In fact it "establishes a principle of injustice against children, who are thus stripped of their basic point of reference in mother/father complementariness".