How did Barnier’s government ministers vote on marriage for all, abortion in the constitution and other important social laws?

“There is no ambiguity regarding the great laws of liberty”. Guest of France 2, on Sunday 22 September, Michel Barnier assured that the social laws approved in recent decades will be “fully preserved”, in particular the law on marriage for all (2013) and the law on access to medically assisted procreation (2021). The Prime Minister said that it would be a “a bulwark to preserve all these rights acquired by the men and women of France”.

Since the announcement of the new government, several political and associative voices have denounced conservative positions, or even “reactionaries”, of some new ministers.

We explore the votes of ministers who served in the National Assembly or the Senate during the adoption of seven historic texts. During Barnier’s government, nine ministers passed through the Senate, twenty sat in the Assembly and two were elected to both chambers.

2013: The Taubira law establishes marriage for all

In 2013, the opening of marriage to same-sex couples sparked a sometimes violent political struggle against LGBT+ people. The bill, approved by the Minister of Justice, Christiane Taubira, was opposed by part of society, supported in particular by La Manif pour tous.

In the National Assembly, 183 UMP deputies voted against this law, including Catherine Vautrin, Annie Genevard AND Patricio Hetzel.

There was no public vote in the Senate, where adoption was done by show of hands. But an analysis of the public vote on Article 1^Ahemwhenever the “Marriage is contracted by two persons of different sex or of the same sex”allows us to identify the oppositions of the time. Bruno Retailleau (who supported La Manif pour tous) had voted against, as had Sophie Primas AND Buffet François-NoëlAmong the members of Barnier’s government, only Thani Mohamed Soilihithen a member of the Socialist Group in the Senate, had voted in favour.

If she was not yet a senator at the time (she has only held the position since the end of 2020), the Secretary of State responsible for consumer affairs, Laurence GarnierShe was an active participant in La Manif pour Tous. As a candidate for mayor of Nantes, she declared in 2013 that, if elected, she would not celebrate the marriages of homosexual couples on their behalf.

2018: The Schiappa Law against sexual and gender violence

The law reinforcing the fight against sexual and gender-based violence, approved in 2018 by the Secretary of State responsible for equality between women and men, Marlène Schiappa, consolidates criminal law: the statute of limitations for crimes of a sexual nature or violence committed against minors has been extended (to thirty years), their sentences have been increased (to seven years); and provisions have been created to toughen the fight against sexual and moral harassment, on the street and online.

This law has caused controversy. Article 2 was at the epicenter of the controversies. Its initial version established a “presumption” of rape of minors under 15 years of age. Amended following a negative opinion by the Council of State, the article has lost its essence by specifying only the circumstances in which a sexual act committed with a minor can be considered rape.

Thani Mohamed SoilihiThe new Secretary of State responsible for the Francophone world, voted against this law when he was Vice-President of the Senate. He also did not sign the column of 84 deputies and senators of La République en Marche in support of the law, published on 25 August 2018 in the Sunday newspaper. However, she spoke last May in the Senate about the law aimed at strengthening the protection order for women victims of domestic violence. In particular, she presented two amendments aimed at “to make the protection order more effective and thus allow victims to have greater recourse to it”in his own words.

2021: Bioethics law opens PMA to everyone

The bioethics law of 2 August 2021 opens up the right to medically assisted procreation (PMA) to all women, in particular single women and lesbian couples, allows double gamete donation and extends the self-preservation of oocytes. After twenty-two months of debate, the text was adopted in the National Assembly on 29 June 2021 by 326 votes to 115. In the Senate, the analysis of the votes is delicate: considering that the oppositions to this text were insurmountable, the Senators had decided, before the third and final reading, to approve a preliminary question in committee, a procedure which gives the right not to start a new debate.

Among the deputies who oppose it are: Paul Christopher (Acting Together), who became Minister of Solidarity, Annie Genevard (Les Républicains, LR), Minister of Agriculture, and Patricio Hetzel (LR), now in higher education and research. The latter presents himself as an advocate of obstruction by submitting a hundred amendments during the examination of the law.

For Bruno RetailleauThen senator and president of the LR group in the Senate, he had the article that opened the PMA to all women eliminated in a previous reading, a central article that the deputies later reinstated.

2022: Conversion therapy ban

On January 25, 2022, a bill was adopted to include a ban on conversion therapy in the French penal code. This text creates a new crime that prohibits “repeated practices, behaviors, or comments intended to modify or suppress a person’s true or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity”, resulting in a “deterioration of physical or mental health”under penalty of two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros.

Several new ministers who were then part of the Senate voted on this proposal on 7 December 2021. In total, 305 senators voted in favour of banning conversion therapy, including seven ministers from Michel Barnier’s government. Only twenty-eight senators opposed this text, all of them from the LR group, including two new ministers, Bruno RetailleauAND Laurence Garnier.

ensuring to be “Obviously against conversion therapy”The Minister of the Interior justified his vote by explaining that the text “It also evokes gender identity, in the name of which people ask to change their sex, which goes far beyond the question of protecting homosexual people.”

2022: Vignal Law on surnames

This text, which came into force in July 2022, simplifies both the rules on the name used and the procedure for changing it. In particular, by facilitating the procedures for mothers who wish to subsequently register their name on their children’s papers (particularly after a divorce), the equality between surname and matronymic is reinforced.

Final reading at the assembly, Patricio HetzelHe is the only elected representative in the House, out of the 72 present, who voted against the so-called “Vignal” law in March 2022.

2024: Inclusion of abortion in the Constitution

Meeting in Congress in Versailles on 4 March 2024, Parliament largely adopted the project aimed at including voluntary termination of pregnancy (VTP) in the French Constitution. The text received 780 votes in favour of this constitutional revision and seventy-two against.

Of the thirty-nine ministers that make up the new government, twenty-two participated in this historic vote. The majority (seventeen) voted in favour, while three were opposed (LR senators Bruno Retailleau, Laurence GarnierAND Patricio Hetzel), and two abstained (LR Senator Buffet François-Noëland MP LR Annie Genevard).

2024: Senate Bill on Gender-Related Care for Minors

In March 2024, seven of the new ministers in Barnier’s government vote in favour of a law on child care in “gender questioning”. Only Thani Mohamed Soilihi AND Nathalie Delattre are against.

On the initiative of LR, this law aims to “monitor the medical practices implemented in the care of minors with gender issues”. It proposes, among other things, banning puberty blockers or repealing the “Blanquer circular”, which allows transgender students to use the name they have chosen at school. The text is based on the report of a working group under the auspices of Senator (LR) Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio who interviewed sixty-seven experts, but whose conclusions have aroused much criticism in medical circles and specialist associations, alarmed by their bias and their recommendations being far removed from reality on the ground.

Adopted in first reading in the Senate on 28 May 2024, this bill was not voted on in the National Assembly, which was dissolved on 9 June.