French upper house backs same-sex marriage law

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Senate upper house voted in favour of same-sex marriage on Friday, paving the way for it to enter law after street marches rallied hundreds of thousands of demonstrators both for and against it.

The move is France's most important social reform since the 1981 abolition of the death penalty and was a keynote campaign pledge by President Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists.