French lawmakers today voted to legalise gay marriage after months of bruising debate and street protests that brought hundreds of thousands to Paris.
Justice minister Christiane Taubira said the first weddings could be as soon as June following the 331-225 vote in the Socialist majority National Assembly.
Opponents of the law say France is not ready to legalise adoption for same-sex couples, and polls show a country sharply divided on the issue.
Victory: French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault congratulates family minister Dominique Bertinotti, right, as justice minister Christiane Taubira, left, looks on, after lawmakers approved a bill legalising same-sex marriage
Mr Ayrault celebrates with Mrs Taubira: She said the the first weddings could be as soon as June after the 331-225 vote in the Socialist majority National Assembly which passed the new law this afternoon
Thousands of police mobilised ahead of the vote, taking up positions with water cannon outside the French parliament, preparing for duelling protests around the National Assembly building and along the Seine River.
But in the end the vote passed without large demonstrations, although at least one spectator was ejected from the public gallery.
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France is the 14th country to legalise gay marriage, and today's vote comes a week after New Zealand - with very little controversy - allowed same-sex couples to wed.
The extraordinary security was put in place to protect the National Assembly in Paris following large and at times violent protests in the months leading up to this afternoon's vote.
Mrs Taubira and interior minister Manuel Valls address members of parliament: Opponentssay France is not ready to legalise adoption for same-sex couples, and polls show a country sharply divided on the issue
In recent weeks, violent attacks against gay couples have spiked and some legislators have received threats - including one sent a gunpowder-filled envelope.
One protest against gay marriage ended in clouds of tear gas earlier this month with some demonstrators fighting police and damaging cars along the Champs-Elysees avenue.
The highly controversial new law also makes it legal for gays and lesbians to adopt children, and ban the words 'mother' and 'father' from all official documents.
The new law had been expected pass comfortably in the Socialist-controlled legislature.
Demonstrators against gay marriage face riot police in Paris on Sunday: Riot police were deployed outside the French parliament today as lawmakers prepared to vote to make it the 14th country to legalise gay marriage
Anger: The extraordinary security was put in place to protect the National Assembly following large and at times violent protests by those who oppose legalisation in the months leading up to this afternoon's vote
When President Francois Hollande initially promised to legalise gay marriage, it was seen as relatively uncontroversial.
But the issue rejuvenated the country's conservative movement and brought together the far right, the Catholic Church and many French families from the countryside.
It had even sparked physical scuffles between right and left wing MPs during debates in the National Assembly.
Unpopular: The change in law promised by Francois Hollande (pictured) has brought together the far right, the Catholic Church and many rural French
Although President Hollande's party is expected to carry the vote by a two-thirds majority, polls show half of the French population are opposed to gay marriage.
The new law states that 'marriage is a union of two people, of different or the same gender', and it swaps all references in the civil code to 'mothers and fathers' to simply 'parents'.
Now it has passed, opposition parties have pledged to challenge the law in France's highest court, the Constitutional Council.
And if that fails, they hope public hostility will pressurise Mr Hollande into not signing it into law, just as former president Jacques Chirac backed down from signing an employment law that was voted by parliament in 2006.
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, head of the French Catholic Church, was also leading his own campaign to stop the law, warning followers that gay marriage could lead to legalised incest and polygamy in society.
He told the Christian's RFC radio station: 'Gay marriage would herald a complete breakdown in society.
'This could have innumerable consequences. Afterward they will want to create couples with three or four members. And after that, perhaps one day the taboo of incest will fall.'
Legalising gay marriage was one of Mr Hollande's key manifesto pledges, but less than a year later, observers say he has been surprised by the scale of public opposition to the measure.
There has also a been a sharp rise in the number of homophobic attacks in recent weeks, and several initially peaceful protests have degenerated into violence.
The law also comes amid a poll showing Mr Hollande has become the most unpopular president in five decades - with a personal approval rating of just 25 per cent.
No to homophobia: Pro-gay marriage protesters at a counter demonstration also held on Sunday. The new law will also allow gays and lesbians to adopt and ban the words 'mother' and 'father' from official documents
Divisive issue: Although President Hollande's Socialist party is expected to carry this afternoon's vote by a two-thirds majority, polls show half of the French population are opposed to gay marriage
His first 11 months in office have been blighted by a catalogue of political, economic and personal crises as he finds himself unable to control either the public finances or the wayward antics of First Lady Valerie Trierweiler.
'In the face of such fierce opposition to so many of his other policies, Hollande will be a brave man to sign gay marriage into law'
French political observer Thierry Kutlay
Millionaires have been fleeing France in fear of a proposed 75 per cent tax on all earnings over one million euros.
The French equivalent of the UK's Confederation of British Industry, called MEDEF, has warned the president that France risked becoming 'the poor man of Europe' over his 'disastrous' economic policies.
And his problems then culminated this month with revelations his own budget minister Jerome Cahuzac had been hiding up to €20million in a secret bank account to dodge taxes.
Political observer Thierry Kutlay said: 'I don't think he ever thought running France would be so hard. In the face of such fierce opposition to so many of his other policies, he will be a brave man to sign gay marriage into law.'