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One thing to remember about France, is unlike the United States and pretty much the rest of the Western world children both from a legal marriage and illegitimate are treated equally for inheritance purposes.
Under the Napoleonic code all issue regardless of which side of the blanket they are born are "protected heirs". That means they have automatic rights to a portion of their parent's estate. They cannot be disinherited and the law over rides anything in a final will and testament. That this means is that unlike in the United States where a spouse inherits as of right most of a deceased husband's or wife's estate, in France a widower or widow actually comes *after* the children.
In the United States a man might wish to marry in order to protect his children financially, in France such children are *protected* already regardless of the marital status of their mother.
With the children's financial position/status/inheritance taken off the table, why a man and woman would enter into a legal marriage can take on a completely different complexion.
Taking to the streets to express your point of view or even blockading them has long been a protest tactic in France. Not sure that make them illiberal, perhaps the opposite. Here the PC brigade tells us how it is going to be, and everyone shuts up and pretends to agree for fear of condemnation. I might not agree with their protests, but like the fact they are free to make them.
People are free to protest over any particular issue - it's their fault if they fear condemnation. Perhaps it reveals the fragility of their standpoint.
I doubt everyone would lose their job if they protested over a particular 'issue', such as same-sex marriage. If a group of 100,000 gathered in central London to condemn the legalisation of same-sex marriage, would you envisage every single one of them being sacked?
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