MONTPELLIER, France -- Aline Fesquet, a 27-year-old schoolteacher, and Frank Embert, a 29-year-old doctoral student, have been together for eight years but say they do not feel ready yet for marriage. Both are children of divorce and they think marriage is a burdensome institution, weighed down with religious connotations, likely to end badly and at enormous expense.
But when France last year created a new form of legal partnership, originally intended for gay couples, it seemed just right to them. The other day, dressed casually in slacks and baggy sweaters, they waited for their turn to enter into a civil solidarity pact, or Pacte civil de solidarite, known here as a "PACS."In the end, the event took only a few minutes. A court clerk, Helene Belin flipped through their file, noting that neither was married, a parent or already "PACS-ed" with anyone else. Then she put a stamp on their contract and closed the folder.
"That's it?" said Fesquet. It was.
Creating the PACS was no easy feat. No law has been so debated in Parliament since France remade its Constitution in 1958. Begun as an effort to legalize gay unions, it set off furious protests and demonstrations before finally passing last November as an alliance open to couples of any kind.
Some say that while both gay and heterosexual couples are using the new law, they tend to use it differently. For gay couples, who have no alternative, the PACS is celebrated like a marriage. The couples dress up, take pictures and have parties to mark the event. The heterosexual couples, who like Fesquet and Embert tend to see the union more as a trial run for a marriage, often don't even tell their parents.
"For us, it is a step forward in our relationship," said Fesquet. "But without the family and all that baggage."
Embert agreed: "I think this is an evolution of our society that this exists. This is a middle ground."
Under the law, when a couple is joined in such a union both parties are responsible for financially supporting each other. Any purchases and debts are theirs jointly, unless otherwise specified. In three years, they can file a joint income tax form and get the same tax break as married couples. They are usually eligible immediately for the other person's work benefits.
Some gay advocacy groups are openly disappointed with the law.
Laurent Benavent, the president of the Gay and Lesbian Center for Montpellier, says PACS discriminate against gay couples. They must wait for three years before receiving tax benefits. They do not have any rights to adoption, and because most mayors in France wanted nothing to do with gay marriage, the ceremony has been pushed into the back rooms of court buildings, unlike marriages which take place at City Hall.
"It's a fake," said Benavent. "Plain and simple, we did not get what we wanted."