France's lower house of parliament approved a sweeping bill on Tuesday to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children, handing a major legislative victory to President Francois Hollande's Socialists on a divisive social issue.

The measure, approved in the National Assembly in a 329-to-229 vote, puts France on track to join about a dozen mostly European nations that allow gay marriage and comes despite a string of recent demonstrations by opponents of the so-called "marriage for all" bill.

Polls indicate a narrow majority of French support legalizing gay marriage, though that support falls when questions about the adoption and conception of children come into play.

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The Assembly has been debating the bill, and voting on its individual articles in recent weeks. The overall legislation now goes in the coming weeks to the Senate, which also is controlled by the governing Socialists and their allies.

With Tuesday's vote, France joins Britain in taking a major legislative step in recent weeks toward allowing gay marriage and adoption — making them the largest European countries to do so. The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Spain, as well as Argentina, Canada and South Africa have authorized gay marriage, along with nine U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

The issue has exposed fault lines between a progressive-minded leftist legislative majority in officially secular France, and the country's conservative religious roots. Critics — including many Roman Catholics — have railed that the bill would erode the traditional family. Socialists, however, sought to depict the issue as one of equal rights, and they played off France's famed Revolution-era motto of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity."

"This law is going to extend to all families the protections guaranteed by the institution of marriage," Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said before Tuesday's vote. "Contrary to what those who vociferate against it say — fortunately they're in the minority — this law is going to strengthen the institution of marriage."

'Social evolution'
As with many major and controversial reforms in France, the issue drew its share of political grandstanding over weeks of debate. Conservative opponents forced a discussion of nearly 5,000 amendments, a move derided by Socialists as inconsequential stalling tactics. But by the final vote, the government rank-and-file rolled out grand, solemn statements of victory.

"This law is a first necessary step, a social evolution that benefits society overall," said Socialist representative Corinne Narassiguin, announcing her party's support for the measure. "Opening up marriage and adoption to homosexual couples is a very beautiful advance. ... It is an emblematic vote, a vote that will mark history."

However, the political right hasn't given up just yet, saying the Constitutional Court — whose 12 members include three former French presidents and several other prominent conservatives — will determine whether the law, if finally passed, meshes with the law of the land.

"So it's not the end of the story yet," said Herve Mariton, a member of the main opposition UMP party. "We still have arguments to make and we want to convince people that it is not a good project."

The government didn't get all it wanted. The Socialists last month backed off plans to link the gay marriage measure to relaxed restrictions on fertility treatments, after catching political heat for its stance on assisted reproduction. The issue is expected to come up in a separate bill later this year.

Hollande made legalizing gay marriage one of the planks in his 60-point program on the way to winning the presidency in May over conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. But Hollande's popularity has fallen along with France's lackluster economic performance, and his foes on the right appear to sense he might be vulnerable on a high-profile social issue.

The latest polls suggest a narrow majority of French support gay marriage, but that has declined from about two-thirds support in August. In mid-January, at least 340,000 people swarmed on the Eiffel Tower to protest the plan to legalize gay marriage, according to police estimates. Two weeks later, about 125,000 proponents of the bill marched in the capital.

French civil unions, allowed since 1999, are at least as popular among heterosexuals as among gay and lesbian couples. But that law has no provisions for adoption or assisted reproduction.

Related:

Why some in supposedly liberal France are up in arms about gay marriage

LONDON - Britain's parliament voted heavily in favor of legalizing gay marriage on Tuesday, but Prime Minister David Cameron's authority in his own party took a blow as his Conservatives split in two over the measure he had championed.

In the first of several votes required for its passage, the lower house of parliament backed the legislation by 400-175, but more than half of Cameron's 303 lawmakers voted against or abstained, signaling deep unease with it and his leadership.

During a debate that lasted more than six hours, many Conservative MPs denounced the legislation, saying it was morally wrong, not a public priority, and unnecessarily divisive, threatening a corrosive legacy of bitterness.

Conservative lawmaker Gerald Howarth told parliament that the government had no mandate to push through a "massive social and cultural change."

"This is not evolution, it's revolution," added Edward Leigh, another Conservative member of parliament, saying marriage was "by its nature a heterosexual union."

Although the vote went Cameron's way, many analysts believe he will now have to address a deep seam of discontent running through his party.

He made a last minute televised statement ahead of the vote, arguing gay marriage would make society stronger.

"I'm a big believer in marriage. It helps people to commit to each other, and I think that's why gay people should be able to get married too," he said.

He later hailed the result of the vote as "a step forward for our country."

Cameron is trying to perform a tricky balancing act: to reconcile his desire to show his party is progressive, with the views of many in it who are uncomfortable with such a reform.

Amid talk of a possible leadership challenge to Cameron, many Conservative lawmakers say the prime minister is sacrificing core party values on the altar of populism.

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"He hasn't got a lot of political capital left in the bank," Stewart Jackson, a Conservative MP who opposes the gay marriage bill, told Reuters before the vote. "He has to deliver some authentic Conservative policies very soon."

Such talk is rife among some Conservative lawmakers and follows a spate of articles in the British press in which a handful of MPs raised the possibility of ousting Cameron, a prospect most commentators regard as far-fetched before the next election in 2015.

Grievances against Cameron
Conservative MPs' grievances are many: that Cameron is "arrogant," that he is too fond of the European Union, that the party's policies have been diluted by its coalition partner after Cameron failed to win the last election outright, and a nagging fear that he will not win the next one.

The gay marriage initiative has infuriated rank-and-file party activists and a protest letter signed by 25 past and present chairmen of local Conservative associations warned that members were starting to resign over the issue.

Justin Welby, the newly elected Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the world's 80 million Anglicans, used his first comments after being confirmed on Monday to reiterate his own opposition to gay marriage.

Faced with strong opposition from the Anglican and Catholic churches, the law would not force them to conduct gay marriages, but critics say gay people may launch legal challenges.

A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times on Sunday showed 55 percent favored legalizing gay marriage, while 36 percent opposed it. However, the same poll showed the issue was not one that concerned most voters.

The new law proposes legalizing same-sex marriage in 2014. It would also allow civil partners to convert their partnerships into marriages.

Gay marriage supporters say that while existing civil partnerships for same-sex couples afford the same legal rights as marriage, the distinction implies they are inferior.

In a sometimes emotional debate on Tuesday, several gay MPs from different parties took to their feet to commend the bill, describing the prejudice they had suffered growing up.

"Millions will be watching us today," said Nick Herbert, a gay Conservative MP. "Not just gay people but people who want to live in an equal society."

The vote was warmly welcomed by Cameron's junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, and by the opposition Labour party, while gay rights group Stonewall called the result "a truly historic step forward."

Tuesday's vote in the House of Commons was "free," meaning MPs were able to vote according to their conscience, rather than under party orders.

The bill is still many stages away from becoming law, and some of its opponents called on Cameron after the vote to consider amending it to appease their concerns, promising they would try to frustrate its progress through parliament.

Warning of divisions
Peter Kellner, president of pollster YouGov, said he felt the parliamentary rebellion would hurt the Conservative party.

"For Cameron, gay marriage is part of his attempt to persuade the voters that his party belongs to modern, 21st century Britain," he wrote on the pollster's site.

"But the divisions that the gay marriages bill has unleashed ... threaten to send an altogether different message: that the Tories are divided, out of touch and prone to quarrel over issues of little concern to most voters."

With the next election still two-and-a-half years distant, there is a risk that internal party splits over issues like gay marriage could fester and turn what for now is only talk of a possible leadership challenge into the real thing.

"David Cameron has split the Conservative Party in half on gay marriage and failed to win a majority of Tory MPs. Labour win," Jackson, the Conservative MP, wrote after the vote.

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PARIS - Several hundred thousand people converged at the Eiffel Tower in Paris Sunday to protest President Francois Hollande's bill to legalize same-sex marriage by June.

Protesters waved pink and blue flags showing a father, mother and two children. Many had taken long train and bus rides from outside Paris.

Hollande has pledged to push through a same-sex marriage law with his Socialist party’s parliamentary majority, but his opponents have dented public support and forced deputies to put off a plan to allow lesbian couples access to artificial insemination.

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Same-sex marriage is recognized in 11 countries including Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Norway and South Africa. In the U.S., it is legal in nine states and in Washington, D.C.

Champ de Mars, the long park between the Eiffel Tower and the Ecole Militaire, was packed Sunday, with organizers claiming 800,000 protesters, but police more conservatively estimating 340,000 – a large turnout even in France, where protests are a way of life.

"Nobody expected this two or three months ago," said Frigide Barjot, a flamboyant comedian leading the demonstration. At the rally, she read aloud a letter to Hollande asking him to withdraw the bill and hold a public debate on the issue.

Strongly supported by the Catholic Church, opponents of same-sex marriage have mobilized practicing Catholics, members of the extreme far-right Front National party, some Muslims, evangelicals and even a few openly gay people.

They argue that same-sex marriage would cause psychological and social harm to children, which they believe should trump the desire for equal rights for gay adults.

Organizers insist they do not oppose gays and lesbians but rather support what they say are the rights of children to have a father and a mother. Slogans on the posters and banners read, "Marriagophile, not homophobe," "All born of a father and mother" and "Paternity, maternity, equality."

"The French are tolerant, but they are deeply attached to the family and the defense of children," said Daniel Liechti, vice-president of the National Council of French Evangelicals, which urged its members to join the march.

Their efforts appear to have had an impact. Surveys indicate that popular support for gay marriage in France has slipped about 10 points to less than 55 percent since opponents started speaking out. Fewer than half of those polled recently favored giving gay couples adoption rights.

Under this pressure, French legislators dropped a plan that would allow lesbian couples access to artificial insemination.

Hollande's office, recognizing the “substantial” turnout Sunday, said it will not be swayed and that it will continue to push for a law recognizing same-sex marriage. 

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PARIS - Several hundred thousand people are expected to march through Paris on Sunday against the planned legalization of same-sex marriage in the first mass protest against the unpopular President Francois Hollande.

Strongly backed by the Catholic hierarchy, lay activists have mobilized a hybrid coalition of church-going families, political conservatives, Muslims, evangelicals and even homosexuals opposed to gay marriage for the show of force.

So many are expected to converge on Paris from around France that police had organizers split it into three separate columns starting from different points around the city and meeting in the Champ de Mars park at the Eiffel Tower.

Virginie Merle, an eccentric comedian known as Frigide Barjot, who is leading the so-called "Demo for All," insists the protest is pro-marriage rather than anti-gay and has banned all but its approved banners saying a child needs a father and a mother to develop properly.

"We're all born of a man and a woman, but the law will say the opposite tomorrow," she said last week. "It will say a child is born of a man and a man."

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Hollande, who promised to legalize gay marriage and adoption during his election campaign last spring, has a comfortable parliamentary majority to pass the law by June as planned.

But his clumsy handling of other promises, such as a 75 percent tax on the rich that was ruled unconstitutional or his faltering struggle against rising unemployment, has soured the public mood. A mass street protest can hardly help his image.

Marriage or jobs for all?
Same-sex nuptials are already legal in 11 countries including Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Norway and South Africa, as well as nine U.S. states and Washington D.C.

Gay marriage opponents such as Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, head of the Catholic Church in France, have asked why Hollande is pushing through a divisive social reform called "marriage for all" when voters seem more concerned about "jobs for all."

Vingt-Trois spearheaded the opposition with a critical sermon in August. Other faith leaders -- Muslim, Jewish, Protestant and Orthodox Christian -- soon spoke out too.

Avoiding religious arguments that could put off the secular French, they struck a chord with voters by stressing problems they saw emerging from same-sex marriage rather than letting the government shape the debate as an issue of equal rights only.

Opinion polls show reform zeal cooled somewhat once these arguments were heard. Support for gay nuptials has slipped about 10 points to under 55 percent and fewer than half the French now want gays to have adoption rights.

Under this pressure, legislators dropped a plan to amend the draft law to allow lesbians access to assisted reproduction techniques such as artificial insemination that are now limited to heterosexual couples with fertility problems.

Rival march
Organizers insist they are not against gays and lesbians, but for traditional marriage. "We are marriagophile, not homophobe," said Barjot, author of a book entitled "Confessions of a Trendy Catholic."

Most national faith leaders will not join the protest, but at least eight Catholic bishops have said they would march.

"I'm happy many Catholics will be mobilized, but this is not a church demonstration against the government," said Vingt-Trois, who plans to go meet marchers but not join them.

Opposition leader Jean-Francois Cope and other conservatives, as well as leaders from the far-right National Front, will march as private citizens without political banners.

Civitas, a far-right Catholic group whose protests have been openly anti-gay, plans a rival march that will run parallel to one of the "Demo for All" columns. Organizers say they will have about 10,000 volunteer marshals to keep order during the march.

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PARIS — French Muslims have begun joining a mostly Catholic-led movement against same-sex marriage, widening opposition to the reform that the Socialist-led government is set to write into the law by June.

Fifty Muslim activists issued an open letter on Monday urging fellow Muslims to join a major Paris protest against the law on Sunday. That followed a similar appeal last Saturday by the influential Union of French Islamic Organizations, or UOIF.

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Leaders of almost all main faiths in France have spoken out against the law but not called on their followers to march in Sunday's demonstration to avoid giving the opposition campaign an overly religious tone.

Gay-marriage opponents take to streets in France

President Francois Hollande and his government clashed with the Catholic Church last weekend, telling Catholic schools not to discuss the law with their pupils and urging state education officials to report anti-gay discussions at Catholic schools.

"We will protest on January 13 by joining a pluralist campaign to preserve the traditional framework of marriage," the Muslim activists' letter said. "We invite all French Muslims to turn out in large numbers."

The UOIF statement also urged Muslims to join the "March for All", the Paris protest against the reform the government has dubbed "Marriage for All".

"This bill, if it passes, will disrupt family and social structures and civil law dangerously and irreparably," it said.

The Muslim activist letter was signed by intellectuals, business leaders and leaders of several grassroots Muslim groups. It accused the government of using the marriage issue "to mask its ineffectiveness in the fight against unemployment".

More stories from Europe

France's 5-million-strong Muslim minority is Europe's biggest and Islam is the second largest faith after Catholicism.

The government has a comfortable majority in parliament to pass the bill. Opinion polls show almost 60 percent of the French support same-sex marriage but less that half want to let gay couples adopt children, which is part of the reform.

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