A gay marriage fair has been held in Paris for the first time, just four days after lawmakers voted for marriage equality.

French photographers, caterers, wedding planners, were just some of the businesses represented in a fair dedicated to the special moment when a same-sex couple ties the knot and says ‘I do’.

As an economic slump sees traditional couples spend less on weddings, French entrepreneurs look for gay marriage as an attractive business opportunity.

The half-naked men of Les Hommen and other anti-gay marriage protesters are expected to join forces in Paris today, in a last-ditch effort to stop same-sex marriage in the country.

France’s Parliament is expected to pass the Marriage for All bill allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children on 23 April.

French police say they have arrested around 70 people and put them in custody after they tried to set up an anti-gay protest camp outside the National Assembly.

The French Senate has now approved same-sex marriage and adoption by gay couples. Now lawmakers have moved it back to the National Assembly for a vote earlier than expected – on 23 April.

Anti-gay bigots decided to film themselves vandalizing and wrecking the outside of a LGBT center in Paris, as seen in a video posted on 7 April.

It shows ‘Le Printemps Francais’ (French spring), a collective made up of hard line Catholics and royalists who have split from the mainstream ‘Manif Pour Tous’ anti-marriage equality movement.

The group published the video showing them vandalizing the annual Inter-LGBT fair in the gay district of Marais, but later deleted it. A pro-gay activist republished it on YouTube later.  

France’s Senate has begun debating on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption, amid large protests from anti-gay protestors.

The National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament, passed the bill in February.

The bill has caused huge controversy in France, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people to protest for or against marriage equality.

Around three hundred people attended a candle-lit vigil outside the office of the Daily Mail in London last night, to protest the newspaper's hounding of transgender primary school teacher Lucy Meadows, who was found dead a week ago today.

Campaigners Paris Lees, Jane Fae and Josephine Shaw and Labour MP for Bristol East Kerry McCarthy were at the vigil.

An anti-gay marriage protestor used his young child to protect himself as he challenged police during a protest in Paris yesterday (24 March).

In an video posted by French group Humanophobie ou Condition Humaine and reported on by AmericaBlog.com, it shows a man with a toddler on his shoulders shouting ‘On met les enfants devant!’ which translates as ‘Put the kids in front!’

French police have stopped an anti-gay marriage march from going ahead due to ‘security concerns’.

Opponents to the ‘Marriage for All’ bill, which would grant same-sex marriage and allow gay couples to adopt, had hoped to march on Paris’ historic Champs Élysées on 24 March, France 24 reports.

A large majority in the National Assembly approved the bill last month, allowing it to head to the Senate in early April.

With the announcement by the International Olympic Committee that the iconic sport of wrestling would no longer be included within their core list of sports, we spoke with Gene Dermody – founder of  Wrestlers WithOut Borders (WWB).

We tracked down Dermody in Sydney where local team Harbour City Wrestling Club were holding its first tournament.

When was WWB established?

Eight women bared their breasts in Paris's Notre Dame cathedral yesterday to celebrate the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

The women from feminist protest group FEMEN shouted 'no more homophobe', 'Pope no more' and 'bye bye Benedict' while ringing bells near the alter in the iconic cathedral, with slogans painted on their bodies.

With the world of fashion showcasing the styles we can look forward to in AW13, we take a look at the unlikely design due that is Viktor & Rolf.

Who: Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren.

Where: Amsterdam.

When: Founded in 1993.

France has appointed a gay-friendly politician as head of France's Arab World Institute, or the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA).

Former Culture Minister Jack Lang, known to support gay rights as early as the 1970s, will now run the Institute that promotes dialogue between France and Arab nations.

The IMA, devoted to Arab art, performances and educational programs, was founded in Paris in 1980 by 18 Arab countries as a research hub on Arab culture and spirituality. Many of the Institute's member states are countries where homosexuality is still illegal.