France's Royal says supports gay marriage, adoption

PARIS, June 20 (Reuters) Segolene Royal, the Socialist frontrunner for France's 2007 presidential poll, has said gay couples should be allowed to marry and adopt children, laying out her position on what could become a divisive election issue.

Royal said France needed to do a lot more work to make sure homosexuals were treated fairly.

''It is essential that everybody has equal rights and dignities and the chance to express themselves freely,'' Royal told the gay magazine Tetu in an interview to be published tomorrow.

The issue of gay marriage caused a stir in France two years ago when a maverick mayor performed the country's first gay wedding. The marriage was promptly declared illegal.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's conservative government opposes gay marriages and does not allow same-sex couples to adopt children, but has given homosexual couples who form a civil union more financial rights.

Royal, who leads opinion surveys on who should be the Socialists' presidential candidate, said her party would make gay marriage legal if it was elected in 2007.

''Opening up marriage to same-sex couples is needed in the name of equality, visibility and respect,'' she said.

But Royal, who never married the father of her four children -- Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande -- said it was surprising that marriage, ''a so-called 'bourgeois' institution'', was at the heart of the controversy.

Party rivals have accused Royal of trying to win voters on the political right with tough proposals on law and order and by questioning the effects of the 35-hour work week, a Socialist touchstone reform.

During the debate about gay marriage two years ago, Royal expressed caution over homosexual couples adopting children, contrasting with the stand she took this week.

''Whether the parents are homosexual or heterosexual, adoption is above all a family project. From the moment a same-sex couple is recognised as a family, this family has the right to conceive of family projects,'' she told Tetu.

Conservative Family Minister Philippe Bas said on Monday he was strictly against gay couples marrying or adopting.

''I think today, the findings of modern psychology -- which can certainly develop -- indicate that it is better for a child to have a dad and a mum,'' Bas told Canal+ television.

A BVA survey this month showed that 6 out of 10 French people are in favour of gay marriages, but half of those questioned said they were against homosexual couples adopting children.

Same-sex couples can already marry in several countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.

REUTERS CH VC0845