France Gay Couple

• Couples ready to tie the knot in UK's first gay marriages

  When the clock strikes midnight on Friday, gay and lesbian couples across England and Wales will begin exchanging vows as an historic law legalising same-sex marriage finally comes into force.

• Vincent and Bruno, the first gay couple in France, get married

  Not even France's biggest street protests in years - or a smoke bomb lobbed toward the city hall - could stop Vincent and Bruno getting married.

• French Senate adopts gay marriage law

  France's upper house Senate voted Friday to approve a landmark bill granting homosexual couples the right to marry and adopt, after a heated debate and mass protests from conservatives and religious groups.

• France approves crucial article of gay marriage bill

  France's Senate on Wednesday approved the crucial first article of a bill granting gay couples the right to marry, clearing the way for a law that has sparked protests from conservatives and religious groups.

• France legalises gay marriage, allows same-sex couples to adopt children

  France's lower house of parliament has approved a sweeping bill to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

• French parliament approves article legalising gay marriage

  France's National Assembly on Saturday overwhelmingly approved the first and most important article of a controversial law that will allow gay couples to marry and adopt children.

• France to pass gay marriage, adoption law

  France's new Socialist government is to legalise marriage and adoption for same-sex couples, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Friday, reflecting a shift in public attitudes in the majority Catholic nation.