Paris witnessed what must have been the biggest and most extraordinary demonstration ever in favour of the traditional family on Sunday.

The best estimate is that 800,000 people took part. It was superbly well organised. People were given pink and blue balloons, pink and blue banners, pink and blue sweat shirts to emphasise that the sexes are different, that it takes a man and a woman to conceive a child and that children should be raised by their own mother and father.

The demonstration told the world that marriage exists to recognise all of these facts and that permitting same-sex marriage would contradict and deny them.

It has to have been the biggest, the best, and the most focused lesson on the nature of marriage that any country has ever seen. It was also pure street theatre. It was good natured and colourful and it took over much of the centre of Paris. The organisers and all who took part deserve huge congratulations from everyone who cares about marriage and the family.

What was also novel about it is the fact that it was led by unexpected people. The chief spokesperson was a French comedienne named Frigide Barjot who in no way fits the stereotype of the uptight defender of tradition.

Another leader was a gay atheist named Xavier Bongibault.

Several other gay men acted as spokespeople. This, of course, did a huge amount to counter the cheap and all too commonplace accusation that anyone who is against gay marriage must be ‘homophobic’.

The Public Discourse blog from the US quotes several gay men was are opposed to plans by France’s Socialist Government to legalise same-sex marriage.

Hervé Jordain, a Marseille homosexual, says on Homovox, a website carrying testimony from gay men opposed to gay marriage and adoption: “It is utterly abnormal to uphold one’s ‘right’ to have a child … A child is not a cute little doll you go out and buy on December 15.”

Only a gay man could get away with saying such a thing.

“Benoît,” a 43-year-old gay business owner, says, “this bill [in favour of gay marriage] is a dupe … it is a lie, an error, a farce. It is like looking for a magic spell to say gay and straight people are the same.”

Emmanuel, a gay art historian, says, “Why must we say gay and straight couples are the same?  

Gay blogger Philippe Ariño cautions, “equality is not a good thing by itself. There are bad forms of equality. We call that conformism, uniformity, banality.”  

Support for gay marriage among French voters has dropped in recent weeks from the mid-sixties to the mid-fifties.

If there was a referendum in France on the subject there is an excellent chance it would be defeated as more people would become acquainted with the excellent arguments in favour of man/woman marriage.

But no matter what happens, those who organised and took part in Sunday’s demonstration can be proud that they made a resounding statement in favour of the deepest needs of children that are embodied in the marriage of a man and a woman.