Jerard Julien / Reuters

Vincent Autin (right) and Bruno Boileau kiss on the balcony in front of the crowd after their marriage at the city hall in Montpellier, France.

MONTPELLIER, France - Two men married each other in the southern French city of Montpellier on Wednesday, in the first same-sex wedding in a country rocked by protests against and for the reform. 

Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau exchanged vows in the city hall before the mayor, relatives and friends as dozens of riot police stood guard outside to ensure the ceremony was not interrupted by protesters. 

The two men, who have been together since they hit it off six years ago discussing music in an online forum, embraced to wild cheers from the audience of some 500 people and the strains of "Love and Marriage" by U.S. crooner Frank Sinatra. 

"It's a great pleasure for me to declare you married by law," said Montpellier Mayor Helene Mandroux as the couple, both dressed in dark suits, kissed and signed the marriage registry. 

Guillaume Horcajuelo / EPA

Vincent Autin (left), 40, and his partner Bruno Boileau, 30, were married by Montpellier's mayor on Wednesday, three days after a protest drew hundreds of thousands of opponents to Paris' streets.

The ceremony marked a symbolic end to months of debate that often overshadowed France's economic woes, sealing Socialist President Francois Hollande's reputation as a reformer despite bitter and continued opposition from Catholics and conservatives. 

Despite support for the reform in Montpellier, which boasts of being France's most gay-friendly town, officials scrapped plans to broadcast the wedding live on a giant TV screen and instead beamed it live online to the city's website. 

Moments before the men walked in, a smoke bomb was lobbed from outside into the perimeter of the city hall. Security guards rushed to investigate, but the wedding went ahead. 

An emotional Autin gave a brief speech to the audience, thanking his family, friends and government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a personal friend present at the ceremony. 

"Love each other, love us, love one another, because it's important," said Autin from a balcony to a crowd of hundreds of well-wishers outside the city hall, adding the next step would be a law allowing gay couples to adopt children. 

After the men exchanged a kiss, Mandroux signed the first ever marriage registry entry for two people of the same sex in France, a nation predominantly Roman Catholic but fiercely attached to the separation of church and state. 

Backed by a slim majority of French and feted by gay men and lesbians when it came into force this month, a law making France the 14th country to allow same-sex marriage has triggered street protests by conservatives, Catholics and extreme right-wingers. 

"This is a historic moment in your own lives... and a historic moment for our country," Mandroux told the ceremony. "We are building here together the society of tomorrow." 

Frigide Barjot, a pink-clad comedian who leads the anti-gay marriage movement, has urged her supporters to stay away from Wednesday's wedding and expressed concern at right-wingers who have hurled bricks, bottles and firecrackers during marches. On Sunday, a massive march in Paris was marred by violence. 

"I forbid militants from going to protest in Montpellier," Barjot told Reuters TV after hardliners in motorcycle helmets beat up a press photographer at a march against the reform in Paris on Sunday. 

Hundreds of the well-wishers outside city hall and many of the guests inside were dressed fancifully, with men in drag made up as nuns and others wearing gold and pink capes. 

"It's a fantastic day for us, for our generation and for the kids that will have proper homes because of this," said Lucile Dampierre, 24, a student and lesbian activist who was trying to get one of the seats reserved for members of the public. 

Earlier, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls pledged to toughen penalties for homophobic behavior, citing an increase in the number of threats against gay people on online forums. 

"Why do we need to toughen security? Because there are threats," he told i-Tele news TV. "It's likely that we'll have to harden penalties for homophobic speech and behavior by law." 

Organizers of the wedding in Montpellier, a bohemian city with a medieval university, took no chances. Between 50 and 100 police and gendarmes were deployed and ready to cordon off any potential protests. 

A few dozen members of the public were let in to the 500-seat function room alongside invited guests and dozens of journalists for the wedding of the year in Montpellier's futuristic new city hall, built in blue glass. 

Bruno's teary-eyed mother, Dominique Boileau, dressed in a short white dress and coral jacket, told reporters: "I cried when Hollande passed the law and I am still crying. I am proud of them." 

Homosexuality, still a crime in some 78 countries, has been legal in France since the Revolution, and the age of consent was lowered to that of heterosexual relations in 1981. 

Autin, 40, and Boileau, 29, were the first gay couple to apply to marry as President Hollande was pushing through the law, which grants equal marriage and adoption rights that go beyond existing rules for civil partnerships. 

Autin proposed by phoning Boileau at work in September in front of city officials who had just announced that Montpellier would host the first gay wedding. A surprised Boileau, put publicly on the spot via speakerphone, said yes. 

Since then, rallies that are partly fuelled by anger at the government over other issues like the economy appear to have eroded support for the gay marriage law; it now stands at 53 percent, with 47 percent opposed, reflecting a deep national division, particularly over the adoption rights it includes. 

Last week, one opponent of gay marriage shot himself dead at the altar of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral and on Sunday hundreds of thousands marched in the capital to demand the law's repeal. 

That evening, the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, along France's Mediterranean coast from Montpellier, handed top prize to an explicit, taboo-shattering love story between two women. 

Related stories:

Thousands flood Paris to protest same-sex marriage

France legalizes gay marriage despite angry protests

Thibault Camus / AP

An anti gay marriage activist holds flags during a demonstation against French President Francois Hollande's social reform on gay marriage and adoption, in Paris, on Sunday.

Several hundred thousand opponents of same-sex marriage marched in central Paris on Sunday against a reform the unpopular French government passed last month at the price of deepening political polarization. 

Large park grounds around Les Invalides monument were full of protesters waving pink and blue flags, while far-right activists hung a banner on the ruling Socialist Party headquarters urging President Francois Hollande to quit. 

The protests, which began as a grass roots campaign strongly backed by the Roman Catholic Church, have morphed into a wider movement with opposition politicians and far-right militants airing their discontent with Hollande. 

Although they have failed to block gay marriage, the protesters hope their renewed show of force will help stop or slow down further laws some Socialists want allowing assisted procreation and surrogate motherhood for gay couples. 

Thibault Camus / AP

Anti gay marriage activists hold flags during a demonstation against French President Francois Hollande's social reform on gay marriage and adoption, in Paris on Sunday.

Jean-Francois Cope, leader of the opposition UMP party, marched in the demonstration and urged young protesters to join his party to keep up pressure on the left-wing government. 

"The next rendezvous should be at the ballot boxes for the municipal elections," he said, referring to local polls due next year where conservatives hope to profit from the protest movement's unexpectedly strong mobilization. 

While the rally was peaceful throughout much of the day, police said they arrested 96 hardline opponents to the gay marriage law later on for refusing to disperse or occupying private property. 

Once the bulk of protesters had gone home, clashes erupted between hardliners wielding sticks and riot police, filling the Invalides Esplanade with tear gas. The violence was less severe than at the end of previous demonstrations, however. 

Police said 150,000 marched on Sunday while protest organizers said a million people took part. 

A survey published on Sunday showed 53 percent of those polled support gay marriage and adoption, indicating a slide of about 10 points since the protests began last November. It said 72 percent thought the protests should stop now. 

Plagued by economic recession, unemployment at more than 10 percent and pressure to reduce the public deficit, Hollande got some respite on Sunday from another poll showing his record low popularity had inched up four points to 29 percent this month. 

While leaders of Hollande's Socialist Party denounced the protest against a law already passed in parliament and validated by the Constitutional Council, the conservative UMP party was split over whether to continue the rallies. 

There were fewer Catholic priests than at earlier demonstrations. Several bishops joined previous marches, but distanced themselves as protests became more openly political. 

France's first gay wedding is due to take place on Wednesday in Montpellier, France's self-proclaimed capital of gay culture. 

France, a traditionally Catholic country, followed 13 others including Canada, Denmark, Sweden and most recently Uruguay and New Zealand in allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed. 

In the United States, Washington D.C. and 12 states have legalized same-sex marriage. 

This story was originally published on Sun May 26, 2013 12:22 PM EDT

PARIS -- French President Francois Hollande has signed into law a bill allowing same-sex marriage, making France the 14th country to legalize gay weddings.

France's official journal announced on Saturday the bill had become law after the Constitutional Council gave it the go-ahead on Friday.

The bill, a campaign pledge by the Socialist president, has been for months hotly contested by many conservatives in France, where allowing gay marriage is one of the biggest social reforms since abolition of the death penalty in 1981.

Opponents have staged huge and often violent demonstrations against the bill and have called yet another protest on May 26. The leader of opposition to gay marriage, a political activist and humorist who goes under the name of Frigide Barjot, has said the protest would draw millions into the streets.

Montpellier mayor Helene Mandroux, who is due to celebrate France's first gay marriage in the southern city on May 29, said the law marked a major social advance.

"Love has won out over hate," she said, while voicing concerns the first gay wedding could attract violent protests.

France, a predominantly Catholic country, follows 13 others including Canada, Denmark, Sweden and most recently Uruguay and New Zealand in allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed. In the United States, Washington D.C. and 12 states have legalized same-sex marriage.

Unlike former president Francois Mitterrand's abolition of the death penalty, which most French people opposed at the time, polls showed more than half the country backed gay marriage.

Nonetheless, with Hollande's popularity ratings at record lows a year into office, the law has proved costly for the president with critics saying it has distracted his attention from reviving the recession-hit economy.

After lawmakers adopted the bill in late April, opponents had sought to scupper it with a last-ditch appeal to the Constitutional Council.

Related stories:

• France legalizes gay marriage despite angry protests
• New Zealand becomes 13th country to legalize gay marriage
• Protesters in France: Gay marriage would hurt children

Brazilian notaries public must register same-sex civil unions as marriages if the couple requests it, the country's National Council of Justice said Tuesday.

The council that oversees the country's judiciary said in a statement that notaries public cannot refuse to marry gay couples or convert a same-sex civil union into a marriage if that's what the pair wants.

The council based its decision on a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that recognized same-sex civil unions. The court said at the time that gay couples are entitled to same legal rights as heterosexual pairs when it comes to alimony, retirement benefits of a partner who dies and inheritances, among other issues.

Those opposed to the council's ruling can file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

Fourteen of Brazil's 27 states so far have legalized same-same marriages.

Efforts in Congress to approve a bill legalizing gay marriage across the nation have been thwarted by conservative evangelical legislators.

Gay rights movements cheered the council's decision.

"It is a major step that will ensure equality among heterosexual and homosexual couples," Carlos Magno Fonseca, president of the Brazilian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Association told reporters.

Last year, 1,277 same sex couples registered such civil unions with notaries public.

France became the 14th country in the world to allow same-sex couples to wed Tuesday, when its parliament approved a law that has sparked often violent street protests and a rise in homophobic attacks.

Lawmakers in the lower house National Assembly, where President Francois Hollande’s Socialists have an absolute majority, passed the bill by 331 votes for and 225 against.

The law also allows same-sex couples to adopt children.

“I hope people across the country will celebrate this moment,” Martin Gaillard, a 31-year-old advocate of gay marriage, told English-language news site France24.com.

Opponents of the law have held increasingly angry protests in recent weeks, including a string of confrontations with police in Paris.

They fought hard to scuttle the parliamentary bill because it also allows the use of surrogate motherhood by gay couples wanting children.

The debate is also blamed for fanning a spate of homophobic attacks, including the beating up of a 24-year-old in the southern city of Nice on Saturday, Reuters reported.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

New Zealand becomes 13th country to legalize gay marriage

Protesters in France: Gay marriage would hurt children 

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:33 AM EDT

Marty Melville / AFP

Gay-rights supporters celebrate at a bar in Wellington, New Zealand Wednesday.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- New Zealand's parliament voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriage on Wednesday, prompting cheers, applause and the singing of a traditional Maori celebratory song from the public gallery.

It becomes the 13^th country to legalize same-sex marriages, after Uruguay passed its own law last week. Australia last year rejected a similar proposal.

Countries where such marriages are legal include Canada, Spain and Sweden, in addition to some states in the United States. France is close to legalizing same-sex marriages amid increasingly vocal opposition.

Seventy-seven of 121 members of New Zealand’s parliament voted in favor of amending the current 1955 Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to marry, making New Zealand the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to do so.

"Two-thirds of parliament have endorsed marriage equality," Louisa Wall, the openly gay opposition Labor Party MP who promoted the bill, told reporters after the vote. "It shows that we are building on our human rights as a country."

The bill was widely expected to pass, given similar support for the change in a preliminary vote held last month. It will likely come into effect in August.

The bill was opposed by the Roman Catholic Church and some conservative religious, political and social groups which campaigned that it would undermine the institution of the family.

The law makes it clear that clergy can decline to preside in gay marriages if they conflict with their beliefs.

New Zealand gave same-sex relationships partial legal recognition in 2005 with the establishment of civil unions.

"I have a boyfriend, so it means we can get married, which is a good thing," said Timothy Atkins, a student who was among a crowd listening to the hearing in the parliamentary lobby.

"It's important to be seen as equal under the law." 

Related:

Uruguay approves gay marriage, second in region to do so

Protesters in France: Gay marriage would hurt children

Matilde Campodonico / AP

A same sex marriage activist dressed as a bride, right, jokes with congressional guards outside Parliament where lawmakers are expected to vote on a same sex marriage law in Montevideo, Uruguay, Wednesday, April 10, 2013.

MONTEVIDEO —  Uruguay's Congress passed a bill on Wednesday to allow same-sex marriages, making it the second country in predominantly Roman Catholic Latin America to do so.

Seventy-one of 92 lawmakers in the lower house of Congress voted in favor of the proposal, one week after the Senate passed it by a wide majority. Leftist President Jose Mujica, a former guerrilla fighter, is expected to sign the bill into law.

"I agree that family is the basis of society but I also believe that love is the basis of family. And love is neither homosexual nor heterosexual," said opposition lawmaker Fernando Amado of the center-right Colorado Party.

Uruguay is the 12th country to pass a law of this kind, according to Human Rights Watch. In Latin America, Argentina also has approved gay marriage and it is allowed in Mexico City and some parts of Brazil.

Roughly half a million people marched through Paris in January to protest the legalization of same-sex marriage, underscoring opposition to the measure in the heart of Western Europe.

In Uruguay, a nation of about 3.3 million people sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil, critics of the bill included the Catholic Church and other Christian organizations, which said it would endanger the institution of the family.

"We are opposed to this bill because we understand it distorts and changes the nature of the institution of marriage," said opposition lawmaker Gerardo Amarilla.

Damian Diaz, a 25-year-old teacher who is in a committed relationship with a man, said he was heartened by the move.

"We're definitely going to feel now that we live in a place where we're recognized for who we are, where we get more respect and more acceptance," he told Reuters Television.

Claude Paris / AP

Opponents to government plans to legalize same-sex marriage, adoption and medically-assisted procreation for same-sex couples, shout slogans during a demonstration, in Marseille, southern France, on Feb. 2. Placard reads "Mom and Dad, it's natural."

"Une mère, un mari, un mariage" (One mother, one husband, one marriage): This is the call to arms for those opposed to the legalization of gay marriage and gay adoption in France.

Under this banner thousands turned out on Saturday for demonstrations organized in every one of France's 96 regions.

The French parliament adopted Saturday the main clause of a bill that would allow same-sex marriage and grant gay couples the right to adopt children.

Deputies voted 249-97 to back the clause.

About 1,000 people holding signs that read, "We are all born of a man and a woman" gathered in Paris not far from the parliament building, Reuters reported. Protesters also assembled outside the town hall in Lyon.

The umbrella group for the anti camp is called "manif pour tous" (a pun: manif, or demonstration, for everyone as opposed to marriage for everyone). Spokesman Tugdual Derville said it would be a symbolic day, illustrating that opponents "are present everywhere in France."

The group was behind a huge rally in Paris attended by between 340,000 and 800,000 people on Jan. 13. Saturday's event, according to Derville, is for those who want to demonstrate but perhaps do not have the means to travel to Paris.

So what exactly are they protesting against?

They insist their movement is not homophobic, that it is the legalization of gay adoption that they are against as this amounts to the breakdown of the traditional family.

They say children have a fundamental right to have a father and a mother.

"We must think of future generations. Not only of the desires of adults today," Derville told NBC News.

But those in favor have vocal support, too.

"Marriage should be a simple contract between two individuals. Let's make it available to all couples eager to make this contract to each other," Christophe Barbier, editor of the influential L'Express weekly news magazine and a supporter of the law, told NBC News.

The opponents, Barbier believes, are "afraid that after civil contracts (between homosexual couples), and now marriage, the next step will be IVF (for lesbian couples) and surrogate pregnancies (for gay men)."

President's pledge
Other countries in Western Europe -- such as Belgium and the Netherlands -- have already legalized gay marriage. But nowhere has the opposition been as vocal as in France -- not even in Spain and Portugal, which are predominantly Catholic like France.

This opposition may seem at odds with France's 'liberal' reputation. But Barbier insisted to NBC News: "France is not liberal, neither economically nor socially. France is conservative -- and occasionally revolutionary."

President Francois Hollande was confident the legislation would pass thanks to his Socialist Party's majority. Legalizing gay marriage was a manifesto pledge during his 2012 election campaign.

According to Barbier, for political reasons the president had to fulfill this pledge: "Francois Hollande needs to deliver on the promises made during his campaign: In the economic field, this is difficult, with social issues, it's easier."

Luckily for him, he also appears to have the backing of the majority of French voters.

A recent poll for Atlantico.fr carried out by Ifop found that 63 percent of people in France support the legalization of same-sex marriage. Forty-nine percent supported gay adoption.

This does not diminish the fervor of those opposed. According to a poll cited by "Manif pour Tous" only 6 percent of people see this issue as a priority.

"The priority is the economy, housing and jobs, so politically the president should have the wisdom to renounce this project," said Derville, the group's spokesman.

A poll by Yougov for Le Huffpost (the Huffington Post's French-language edition) backs this up, finding 72 percent feel the debate has already gone on for too long.

Unfortunately for them, the real debate in France's National Assembly just started on Tuesday and is due to run for two whole weeks -- including weekends.

Related:

Tens of thousands march in support of gay marriage in Paris

Protest against gay marriage: Huge crowds expected in Paris

French Muslims join opposition to same-sex marriage