Raymond Bardet, mayor of the small south-eastern town of Ville-la-Grand, last week found exception an exception to his anti-gay marriage principals and carried out the wedding service for his son – barely two and a half months after learning he was gay.
“You should never say never,” Bardet said after the service, telling regional newspaper Le Dauphine that “you always think that it will happen to others but not to you.”
“If he is happy like that – good for him,” he added.
But despite the change of heart concerning his son, Bardet said he remains a firm opponent of gay marriage in general and has no plans on marrying other same-sex couples in the future.
“No, I haven’t changed my mind about it. I think it’s against nature,” he said but insisted he is no anti-gay marriage activist who will go out in the streets to protest.
“I just have my philosophy,” he said.
Gay marriage is a hot topic in France. Legalized in May last year, it has continued to face fierce opposition from more conservative quarters, with the Manif Pour Tous (Demo for All) movement staging several protests against it even after it was written into law.
The sometimes violent opposition to same sex unions ignited a culture war between Socialist President François Hollande and social conservatives that has morph
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