French President François Hollande officially signed a marriage equality bill into law this morning, making France the 14th country to legalize same-sex marriage. In addition, all married same-sex couples will now be able to adopt children. 

Hollande is not doing well in terms of public opinion lately, and opponents of LGBT rights have retaliated against the marriage movement with violent protests and attacks. In the face of such adversity, the passing of the law is all the more significant. 

Mr. Hollande signed the bill a day after the Constitutional Council dismissed a legal challenge by the right-wing opposition. “I will ensure that the law applies across the whole territory, in full, and I will not accept any disruption of these marriages,” he said.

Gay rights advocates praised the law, while a watchdog group, SOS Homophobie, said that France “has taken a great step forward today, although it is regrettable that it was taken in a climate of bad faith and homophobic violence.”

Félicitations, mes amis! 

Lawmakers in Portugal voted Friday to allow spouses in same-sex marriages to legally adopt their partner’s children. It was a close vote, too:

Parliament approved the measure by a vote of 99-94, with nine abstentions, the Portuguese American Journal reports. It allows one spouse the right to adopt the other’s biological or adopted children. However, another proposal, which would have let same-sex couples adopt jointly, was defeated.

Portugal criminalized homosexuality as recently as 1982, but it has come far since then, being one of the few countries in the world with a constitution that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. It has had marriage equality since 2010.

Awesome news; hopefully it’s not too long before we see joint adoption legalized here (and everywhere) as well.