France’s youngest MP opposes gay marriage, says it will ‘open the door to polygamy’

The youngest MP in France has voiced her opposition to same-sex marriage, saying it will “open the door to polygamy”.

Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is the granddaughter of Front National (FN) founder Jean-Marie Le Pen and the niece of the far-right party’s current leader Marine Le Pen.

She was elected in 2012 at age 22, the youngest MP in France’s political history.

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Speaking to the Telegraph, she says same-sex marriage will “open the door to polygamy”, stating her opposition to it.

She goes on: “Once you break away from the natural framework of a man and a woman, you could have other minorities who want their form of love recognised by the state. If you endorse homosexuality [in marriage], why not polygamy?”

Her words come some three years after same-sex marriage was legalised in France.

The far-right FN has seen a boom in popularity in France in recent years, making shocking gains in regional elections last year.

In the first round of voting, the country’s National Front party (Front Nationale) beat both the governing Socialist Party and the centre-right opposition, picking up 27.88% of the vote.

However, the party was beaten into third place behind both the Socialists and the centre-right in the second round of voting, as people turned out in large numbers to stop the party from making gains.

The FN has previously been accused of fostering homophobic violence by aligning itself with aggressive anti-equal marriage factions – though it claims it has since reformed.

The party still a number of openly homophobic politicians who have attacked the “evil homosexual lobby” – though vice president Florian Philippot was outed last year by Closer magazine.

The party has previously signalled that it would strip away President Hollande’s equal marriage reforms, with Presidential and Parliamentary elections set for 2017.

Even former UKIP leader Nigel Farage previously ruled out working with Marine Le Pen, accusing her party of “anti-Semitism and general prejudice”.