By Diana Luna

French PACS

WHAT ARE PACS?The Civil Solidarity Pact law (PACS), is essentially “a contract concluded between two physical persons who have reached the age of majority, of different or the same gender, for the purposes of organizing their life in common.”

PACS vs. Marriage • File joint tax returns• Share common property

rights • Enjoy same social

welfare and inheritance advantages

• Held accountable for each other’s debts

PACS vs. Marriage • No possibility

guardianship, joint adoption, or access to medical assisted procreation

• Doesn’t accord partner automatic immigration rights

• Union registered in court, not in City Hall

• No dissolution process

TIMELINE:

Contract D’union Sociale was introduced

1992

First partnership

law proposed

1990

Court ruled against

extension of benefits to

homosexuals 1989

TIMELINE:

New PACS proposal passed

Oct. 1999

Draft rejected

Oct. 1998

First draft of PACS written

1998

Conservative Opposition• Huge rallies

organized by conservative groups

• Demonstrations called for by several “pro-family” organizations

• In Feb. 1998, Paris rally drew 200,000 demonstrators

The Church’s Response• Undermines the

sanctity of marriage

• Doesn’t produce children

• Undermines morality

“One cannot ignore… that this legislation is just the first step, for example, towards the adoption of children by people in a homosexual relationship… We fear for the future and we regret what has just happened.”- Louis Marie Bille, head of the Council of French Bishops

Foucaultian Lens• Language of

discourse

• Power/knowledge

• Negative relation

THE BIBLE SAYS SO…

The Policing of Marriage?

Voulez-vous `pacser' avec moi?"

Changing State of Affairs• Change from

marriage to cohabitation in last 30 years

• French marriage rate fallen more than 30% in past generation

• 40% of children born out of wedlock

• In 2007, 75% of civil unions signed between heterosexual couples

• 175,000 PACS were registered in 2009, of which 95% were heterosexual

• 2 civil unions for every 3 marriages

Some Numbers: