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France moved yesterday towards the creation of a new law which would make sexist or homophobic comments illegal and forbid job discrimination against homosexuals.

After a muddled late-night debate, in which a number of governing-party deputies made starkly homophobic declarations, the National Assembly gave a second reading to a bill that would create a "high authority" to fight discrimination of all kinds. The bill, which will become law if approved unchanged by the Senate, the upper house, later this month, extends existing penalties for racist abuse to all insults made for reasons of "gender or sexual orientation or handicap".

If the bill is passed, anyone found guilty of making such remarks, verbally or in writing, would risk a one-year prison sentence and a fine of up €45,000 (£31,000). The law, which would make penalties against homophobia and sexism stronger in France than almost any other EU nation, has been pushed very strongly by President Jacques Chirac.

It was, however, stoutly resisted by right-wing members of the President's own centre-right party, the UMP, one of whom said that he could see nothing wrong in homophobia.

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[ 10 December 2004: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]