HISTORY:
Thousands marched through Paris in 1999 to protest giving legal status to unmarried partners. Tens of thousands of couples gay and heterosexual subsequently registered their unions.
Dominique Adamski and Francis Dekens have been dreaming of a June wedding for a long, long time. Adamski, 50, a psychotherapist, and Dekens, 58, a retired bank employee, have been together for 25 years. They were the first gay couple in France to officially register their partnership, in 1999, under the then controversial law setting up "civil solidarity pacts" (PaCS). Pushed through against strong conservative opposition by France's Socialist-led government, the PaCS law gave the couple some legal recognition, but not exactly the same rules on taxation...
