Plans to legalise gay marriage in France will be discussed by the Cabinet on Wednesday.
During his successful election campaign earlier this year, President Francois Hollande championed same-sex marriage and giving gay couples the right to adopt children.
France already allows civil partnerships for gay people, but Mr Hollande's support for going further and letting them marry has aroused intense opposition, the BBC reports.
Under the proposed law, gay partners would be allowed to adopt children together.
There would be changes to official documents, scrapping the terms 'mother' and 'father' for both gay and heterosexual couples, replacing them with 'parent 1' and 'parent 2'.
But the changes have been heavily criticised. One right-wing politician suggested they could even lead to polygamy.
Over the weekend the head of the French Council of Bishops described gay marriage as "the ultimate deceit" and there have been protests in 75 towns and cities around the country.
