Meet Segolene Royal, age 53 who is racing to become the first woman president of France. On November 16, 2006 Socialist party members elected her as their candidate for the 2007 French presidential election.
She's a feminist, who as a junior minister dispensed the morning after pill to teenage girls. Her family consists of four children, but as a personal choice opted not to marry the children's father.
Royal comes from a large family, she has 2 sisters and 5 brothers. Jacque Royal the patriarch of the family believed girls and women were meant for obedience and breeding. He often told his daughters, that they would never amount to much of anything. She and her sisters had to fight for their primary education.
The polls are showing that she has the voter's trust. A few changes to be made once Royal takes office is raising the minimum wage and bringing over 500,000 subsidized jobs for their youth. Women's issues play a big part in her campaign.
Where She Stands on LGBT Issues
"In 2000 Royal, as the then Minister of the Family and Children spoke out against anti-gay bullying in schools, saying, “School must be a place of tolerance, of welcome. Too many young people face teasing, social exclusion because of their sexual orientation… Some consider drugs, suicide attempts. It is time to stand up to this hostility shown towards homosexuality.” She later introduced an educational packet in high schools and colleges called “The Happiness of Loving”, designed particularly for teachers and nurses. It comprises a video, educational information and printed copies for students which address the different issues of homosexuality and homophobia. It includes information on the Civil Partnership scheme, the situation of homosexuals and the discrimination they face abroad. Royal commented further on the issue later that year: “It is necessary, in my opinion, to step up against homophobia, to recognise and respect each other, with our differences”.
"A law passed in February 2002, introduced by Royal on behalf of the Jospin government, gave legal recognition, for the first time, to families with same-sex parents, part of the law’s object. Article 7 of the law amended Article 337 of the Civil Code in allowing the parents to “[delegate] all or part of the exercise of their parental authority to a third person, member of the family [or] trustworthy near relation,”. Article 337-1, added by the law, ensures that “delegation may provide, for the needs of education of a child, that the father and mother, or one of them, shall share all or part of the exercise of parental authority with the third person delegatee."
"In a June 2006 interview with LGBT publication Têtu, Royal said "opening up marriage to same-sex couples is needed in the name of equality, visibility and respect" and said that if her party formed the next government, she would introduce a bill to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption.[23]"







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