http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-06-19T141532Z_01_L19755481_RTRUKOC_0_UK-FRANCE-HOMOSEXUALS.xml&archived=FalsePARIS (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 on Wednesday.
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