Image caption The first gay wedding can be held on 28 May - 10 days after Mr Hollande signed the bill 
 
 France's president has signed into law a controversial bill making the country the ninth in Europe, and 14th globally, to legalise gay marriage. 
 
 On Friday, the Constitutional Council rejected a challenge by the right-wing opposition, clearing the way for Francois Hollande to sign the bill. 
 
 He said: "I have taken [the decision]; now it is time to respect the law of the Republic." 
 
 The first gay wedding could be held 10 days after the bill's signing. 
 
 But Parliamentary Relations Minister Alain Vidalies told French TV he expected the first ceremonies to take place "before 1 July". 
 
 Constitutional challenge 
 
 Analysis Gay groups in France are delighted that the marriage bill has finally become law. They say there are thousands of couples waiting to get married, and thousands of children being brought up in gay households who will now have the full protection of the law. Opponents are angry and frustrated. They think President Hollande has made gay marriage a personal obsession, because he's failed to make progress on other more pressing issues - like the economy. There's also irritation that the Constitutional Council cleared the text on 17 May - which happens to be World Day Against Homophobia. It suggests, opponents say, that social pressure formed part of the sages' considerations. Another anti-gay marriage demonstration is planned for 26 May. It could easily be another monster-manif, like the ones earlier this year. This is because opposition to gay marriage has become conflated with all sorts of other anti-government grievances coming from the right. And the atmosphere in the country is particularly volatile. But in reality the battle is over. Gay weddings will now begin to be held in France. Some on the right will promise a repeal if they get elected, but experience shows that reversing this kind of social change is extremely hard. 
 
 Mr Hollande and his ruling Socialist Party have made the legislation their flagship social reform since being elected a year ago. 
 
 After a tortured debate, the same-sex marriage and adoption bill was adopted by France's Senate and National Assembly last month. 
 
 The bill was quickly challenged on constitutional grounds by the main right-wing opposition UMP party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy. 
 
 But the Constitutional Council ruled on Friday that same-sex marriage "did not run contrary to any constitutional principles," and that it did not infringe on "basic rights or liberties or national sovereignty". 
 
 It said the interest of the child would be paramount in adoption cases, cautioning that legalising same-sex adoption would not automatically mean the "right to a child". 
 
 Comedian Frigide Barjot, who has become a leading mouthpiece for the anti-gay marriage movement, denounced the ruling as "a provocation" and called for the campaign to continue. 
 
 Catholic concerns 
 
 Scores of protesters took to the streets of Paris to voice their opposition to the ruling on Friday: previous, occasionally violent, demonstrations against the bill have drawn hundreds of thousands onto the streets. 
 
 UMP President Jean-Francois Cope said he regretted the Constitutional Council's decision but would respect it. Another senior UMP figure, Herve Mariton, said the party would come up with alternative proposals in 2017 that were "more respectful of the rights of children". 
 
 Image caption Thousands joined protest marches against gay marriage, such as this one in Paris on 21 April 
 
 The anti-gay marriage lobby, backed by the Catholic Church and conservative opposition, argues the bill will undermine an essential building block of society. 
 
 Opinion polls have suggested that around 55-60% of French people support gay marriage, but only about 50% approve of gay adoption. 
 
 France is now the 14th country to legalise gay marriage after New Zealand last month. 
 
 It is also the ninth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriage after legalisation in the traditionally liberal Netherlands and Scandinavia, but also in strongly Catholic Portugal and Spain. Legislation is also moving through the UK Parliament. 
 
 Timeline: Gay marriage in France May 2012: Election of President Hollande, who makes gay marriage his flagship social reform 
 
 January 2013: At least 340,000 join protests in Paris as National Assembly begins debate on gay marriage bill 
 
 April: Senate approves bill, two months after the assembly had passed it 
 
 17 May: Constitutional Court dismisses legal challenge 
 
 18 May: Bill signed into law by President Hollande 
 
 But the measure has aroused stronger than expected opposition in France - a country where the Catholic Church was thought to have lost much of its influence over the public. 
 
 In January, a protest in Paris against the bill attracted some 340,000 people according to police - one of the biggest public demonstrations in France in decades. Organisers put the figure at 800,000. 
 
 Since then, both sides have held regular street protests. 
 
 Mr Hollande has been struggling with the lowest popularity ratings of any recent French president, with his promises of economic growth so far failing to bear fruit and unemployment now above 10%. ||||| PARIS: France became the 14th country to legalise same-sex marriage on Saturday after President Francois Hollande signed the measure into law following months of bitter political debate and protests. The law also legalises gay adoption. 
 
 Here is a breakdown of nations with similar laws on the books: 
 
 - Netherlands: On April 1, 2001 the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage, with the same rights as heterosexuals. Includes the right to adopt. 
 
 - Belgium: Homosexual couples in Belgium have almost the same rights as heterosexuals. They won the right to marry in 2003 and in 2006 parliament voted into law a bill allowing homosexual couples to adopt children. 
 
 Spain: In 2005 Spain became the third member of the European Union to pass a law allowing same-sex marriages. Gay couples can adopt children, whether they are married or not. 
 
 Canada: Canada adopted a national law allowing gays to marry and adopt in July 2005, though most provinces had already allowed same-sex unions before that date. 
 
 South Africa: The country legalised same-sex unions and adoptions by gay couples in November 2006, becoming the first African nation to do so. 
 
 Norway: A 2009 law allowed homosexuals to marry and adopt children. Civil partnerships have existed in the country for 20 years. 
 
 Sweden: Sweden's homosexuals have been allowed to wed in religious or civil ceremonies since May 2009. 
 
 Portugal: Under a 2010 law Portugal legalised gay marriage, while excluding the right to adoption. 
 
 Iceland: Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir married her long-time partner in June 2010 as a new law legalising homosexual marriages came into force. Same-sex couples who have lived together for at least five years have had the right to adopt children since 2006. 
 
 Argentina: Gays in Argentina became the first on the South American continent to be able to wed and adopt, after legislation passed on July 14, 2010. 
 
 Denmark: Denmark, the first country in the world to allow gay couples to enter into civil unions in 1989, voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing homosexuals to marry in the state Evangelical Lutheran Church in June 2012. 
 
 Uruguay: Uruguay voted in April to allow same-sex marriages nationwide, making it only the second Latin American country to do so. 
 
 New Zealand: New Zealand on April 17 became the first Asia-Pacific country to legalise same-sex marriage, after a decades-long campaign. Partial rules Gay couples can marry in nine US states, as well as in the capital Washington, while parts of Mexico and Brazil also allow same-sex marriage. 
 
 Expected soon 
 
 BRITAIN: Same-sex couples in Britain have had the right to live in civil partnerships since 2005 but cannot marry. British lawmakers voted in February in favour of controversial legislation allowing gay marriage, despite fierce opposition from members of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party. The bill has since been scrutinised by a committee of lawmakers and will be debated again in the lower House of Commons on Monday, followed by a vote on Tuesday. If the vote passes, the bill will go before the upper chamber, the House of Lords, before becoming law. 
 
 Civil Union A number of other countries have adopted laws that recognise civil partnerships and give couples more or less the same rights as heterosexuals. 
 
 Countries to have recognised civil unions without yet accepting gay marriage include Germany (2001), Finland (2002), the Czech Republic (2006), Switzerland (2007) and Colombia and Ireland (both 2011). burs/yad ||||| People gather outside Marseille's town hall to attend a demonstration to support the passage of the same-sex marriage bill in Marseille, April 23, 2013. 
 
 PARIS French President Francois Hollande has signed into law a bill allowing same-sex marriage, making France the 14th country to legalize gay weddings. 
 
 France's official journal announced on Saturday the bill had become law after the Constitutional Council gave it the go-ahead on Friday. 
 
 The bill, a campaign pledge by the Socialist president, has been for months hotly contested by many conservatives in France, where allowing gay marriage is one of the biggest social reforms since abolition of the death penalty in 1981. 
 
 Opponents have staged huge and often violent demonstrations against the bill and have called yet another protest on May 26. The leader of opposition to gay marriage, a political activist and humorist who goes under the name of Frigide Barjot, has said the protest would draw millions into the streets. 
 
 Montpellier mayor Helene Mandroux, who is due to celebrate France's first gay marriage in the southern city on May 29, said the law marked a major social advance. 
 
 "Love has won out over hate," she said, while voicing concerns the first gay wedding could attract violent protests. 
 
 France, a predominantly Catholic country, follows 13 others including Canada, Denmark, Sweden and most recently Uruguay and New Zealand in allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed. In the United States, Washington D.C. and 12 states have legalized same-sex marriage. 
 
 Unlike former president Francois Mitterrand's abolition of the death penalty, which most French people opposed at the time, polls showed more than half the country backed gay marriage. 
 
 Nonetheless, with Hollande's popularity ratings at record lows a year into office, the law has proved costly for the president with critics saying it has distracted his attention from reviving the recession-hit economy. 
 
 After lawmakers adopted the bill in late April, opponents had sought to scupper it with a last-ditch appeal to the Constitutional Council. 
 
 (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; editing by Mark John)
– French President Francois Hollande fulfilled a major campaign promise today by signing into law a measure legalizing gay marriage, reports Reuters. The first same-sex weddings can be held in 10 days, notes the BBC. Opponents in the heavily Catholic country aren't done protesting the move, however, and plan another demonstration on May 26. France becomes the 14th country to allow gay marriages, and Dawn.com rounds up the others: Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, Denmark, Uruguay, and New Zealand. (In the US, Minnesota recently became the 12th state to legalize it.)