Teacher:In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? Solve this instance: Frigide Barjot, leader of the movement against gay marriage, 2nd right, talks to the media as she visits mothers, who take part in a vigil to protest against French President Francois Hollande's social... (Associated Press) 
  
 Frigide Barjot, leader of the movement against gay marriage, 2nd right, talks to the media as she visits mothers, who take part in a vigil to protest against French President Francois Hollande's social... (Associated Press) 
  
 French lawmakers have legalized same-sex marriage after months of bruising debate and street protests that brought hundreds of thousands to Paris. 
  
 Tuesday's 331-225 vote came in the Socialist majority National Assembly. France's justice minister, Christiane Taubira, said the first weddings could be as soon as June. 
  
 Opponents of the law say France is not ready to legalize adoption for same-sex couples, and polls show a France sharply divided on the issue. 
  
 Thousands of police mobilized ahead of the vote, preparing for dueling protests around the National Assembly building and along the Seine River. At least one spectator was ejected from the gallery. 
  
 France is the 14th country to legalize gay marriage, and Tuesday's vote comes a week after New Zealand _ with very little controversy _ allowed same-sex couples to wed. ||||| Image caption Supporters of gay marriage gathered outside parliament as lawmakers were voting 
  
 France has become the 14th country to approve a law allowing gay marriage. 
  
 The bill, which also legalises adoption by same-sex couples, was passed by 321 votes to 225 in the French parliament. 
  
 The decision follows a divisive public debate with some of the biggest protests seen in France in recent years. 
  
 Hundreds of opponents of the measure rallied outside the National Assembly building in central Paris as the result was announced. 
  
 Image caption Several hundred opponents of the new law were out in force, led by Frigide Barjot (centre) 
  
 The leader of the most high-profile group opposing same-sex marriage vowed to continue the fight. 
  
 Frigide Barjot, a comedian who uses her stage name, told her supporters: "We are going to show them that this is not over. I solemnly ask the president to hold a referendum on the subject." 
  
 Inside the National Assembly chamber, two opponents tried to unfurl a banner before being ejected. 
  
 Thousands of police armed with water cannon were deployed near parliament to deal with any repeat of the violence seen on the fringes of previous demonstrations. 
  
 Although rallies opposing the change have been overwhelmingly peaceful, there have been some clashes, blamed on far-right elements. 
  
 Flagship reform 
  
 Opinion polls suggest a small majority of French people favour gay marriage, but surveys indicate fewer support adoption by same-sex couples. 
  
 Socialist President Francois Hollande made the law his flagship social reform. 
  
 He is expected to add his signature to the bill once it has cleared any challenge in the constitutional council. 
  
 Opponents of the measure, including the opposition UMP party, will try to convince the council that marriage is a constitutional issue. 
  
 However, analysts say that the council is unlikely to block the new law. 
  
 'Breeze of joy' 
  
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Christian Fraser says that the bill has provoked strong emotions 
  
 The first weddings could take place in June, according to Justice Minister Christiane Taubira. 
  
 "We believe that the first weddings will be beautiful and that they'll bring a breeze of joy, and that those who are opposed to them today will surely be confounded when they are overcome with the happiness of the newlyweds and the families," she told the National Assembly. 
  
 Some argue this is the most important social reform in France since the death penalty was banned in 1981, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris. 
  
 France is now the 14th country to legalise gay marriage after New Zealand last week. 
  
 It is also the ninth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriage after legalisation in the traditionally liberal Netherlands and Scandinavia, but also in strongly Catholic Portugal and Spain. Legislation is also moving through the UK Parliament. 
  
 But the measure has aroused stronger than expected opposition in France - a country where the Catholic Church was thought to have lost much of its influence over the public. 
  
 In January, a protest in Paris against the bill attracted some 340,000 people according to police - one of the biggest public demonstrations in France in decades. Organisers put the figure at 800,000. 
  
 Since then both sides have held regular street protests. 
  
 The opponents, backed by the Catholic Church and conservative opposition, say France already has civil partnerships for homosexual couples, and extending rights to marriage undermines an essential building block of society. ||||| Story highlights Opponents of the measure file a challenge with France's Constitutional Council 
  
 National Assembly approves a same-sex marriage bill by a 331-to-225 vote 
  
 The issue of same-sex marriage also polarizes the United States and other nations 
  
 Lawmakers in New Zealand and Uruguay are the latest to back same-sex marriage 
  
 French lawmakers voted to legalize same-sex marriage Tuesday, despite vocal protests from some conservatives opposed to the step. 
  
 The nation's lower house approved a marriage bill, which would also give same-sex couples the right to adopt, in a 331-to-225 final vote. 
  
 They cast their votes after impassioned speeches by lawmakers for and against the legislation. 
  
 President Francois Hollande, who pledged his support for same-sex marriage on the campaign trail last year, will have to sign the bill before it becomes law. 
  
 After Tuesday's lower house vote, a group of senators filed a legal challenge with the country's Constitutional Council, according to a statement published on the UMP conservative opposition party's senate website. 
  
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 The court has a month to rule on the challenge filed by conservative and centrist senators. 
  
 The measure had been expected to pass Tuesday since the left, which includes Hollande's governing Socialist Party, dominates the National Assembly, or lower house. The legislation was approved in the Senate earlier this month. 
  
 If the measure is enacted, France would be the ninth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriage. 
  
 Protesters on Sunday joined the latest in a series of marches through Paris against the measure, and they have vowed to carry on the fight. 
  
 One of the groups behind the marchers urged protesters to rally again Tuesday evening and is planning more demonstrations around the country next month. 
  
 Policing has been stepped up in the streets around the lower house in case demonstrations by those for and against the bill become heated, CNN affiliate BFM-TV reported. 
  
 In France, the contentious debate over the same-sex marriage bill has coincided with a spike in reported incidents of homophobic abuse, the gay rights group SOS Homophobie told BFM-TV last week. 
  
 A gay bar in Lille was targeted Wednesday night by four men who appeared to belong to a far-right group, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Thursday, in a statement condemning the attack. 
  
 Valls also condemned violence that broke out Thursday evening at a march against same-sex marriage, when "organized groups" refused to disperse and clashed with police. 
  
 France is committed to upholding the right of all people to demonstrate peacefully, he said. 
  
 International debate 
  
 Passage of the divisive bill will admit France to a small but growing club. 
  
 Lawmakers in New Zealand last week made it the first country in the Asia Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage. The law is set to be enacted later this year. 
  
 Its move came a week after Uruguayan lawmakers approved a measure allowing same-sex marriage. The measure awaits the signature of Uruguay's president, who has indicated he supports it. 
  
 If the laws in New Zealand, Uruguay and France are enacted as expected, the count of nations allowing same-sex marriage will rise to 14. 
  
 The first same-sex couples walked down the aisle in the Netherlands in 2001, with others following suit in Canada, South Africa, Belgium and Spain. Argentina was the first Latin American nation to legalize such marriages, in 2010. 
  
 Legislators in the United Kingdom are also weighing proposals to legalize same-sex marriage. 
  
 However, many countries remain split over the issue. 
  
 In the United States, the question went before the Supreme Court last month, and justices are now deliberating over the matter. 
  
 Nine states and the District of Columbia issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, including three states -- Maryland, Washington, and Maine -- where voters approved it in ballot initiatives last year. Many states have specific laws blocking same-sex couples from legally marrying. 
  
 Lawmakers in Australia voted against a bill to legalize same-sex marriage last September. A poll for the advocacy group Australian Marriage Equality indicated that 64% of those surveyed "support marriage equality." 
  
 A law legalizing civil unions was introduced in 1999 in France under a previous Socialist government. 
  
 Known in France as the PACS, or pacte civil de solidarite, the civil union agreement can be entered into by same-sex or straight couples and confers many but not all of the rights of marriage. |||||
Student:
A week after New Zealand musically ushered in gay marriage, France has become planet Earth's 14th nation to legalize same-sex unions. The measure passed today, 331-225, in the National Assembly following weeks of massive and crippling protests against it, reports the BBC, and President Francois Hollande is set to sign it. The legislation, which also gives same-sex couples the right to adopt, is expected to face a legal challenge from opponents that include the Catholic Church, adds CNN. A small majority of the French people favor gay marriage, though the issue has proven to be a hot button; thousands of police are at the ready as renewed protests were expected, notes the AP. France's justice minister says that the first weddings could take place as soon as June.