France is ready for gay president, says Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe

By Henry Samuel in Paris
Telegraph.co.uk

France is ready for a gay president, Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, says,
as he sets out his ambition to lead the opposition Socialist party to victory at
the next presidential election.

While the French media has shied away from the topic, Mr Delanoe's open homosexuality was previously considered by many as an insurmountable handicap for a presidential hopeful, given French conservatism on the subject.

But in his book, De l'audace! (Courage!), the 57-year old mayor brushes such suggestions aside: "People think that homosexuality is accepted in Paris but not in the suburbs and the provinces. That is a false idea. As people feel that it's not a problem for me, it is no longer a problem for them," he writes.

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France to urge UN to decriminalise homosexuality

PARIS (AFP) — France plans to ask the United Nations to push for homosexuality to be decriminalised around the globe, a government minister said Saturday, as gays and lesbians worldwide marked the International Day Against Homophobia.

Human Rights Minister Rama Yade told a delegation of French gay and lesbian groups that Paris would push for "a European initiative calling for the universal decriminalisation of homosexuality," according to a statement.

She said Paris would submit the initiative to the United Nations after it takes over the rotating six-month EU presidency in July -- a period during which France will speak for all EU member states at the UN General Assembly.

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