Unsurprisingly the France's Constitutional Council declared on Friday that the country's ban on gay marriage did not infringe the constitution. In a sad day for the freedom of French citizens, the 9-member council, the top authority on constitutional questions, gave its judgement and declared that French law's definition of marriage as "the union of a man and a woman" was "in conformity with the constitution."
Any change in the legislation would have to be initiated by parliament, they said. A long standing lesbian couple with four children took the matter to the Council is in a partnership contract or PACS - a union introduced in 1999 with gays and lesbians in mind but which has now also become popular among homosexuals.
Unlike Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and a number of other countries, traditional weddings in France are still reserved for heterosexuals.
Whilst the French always pride themselves on an open, tolerant and welcoming society, they also hold up deep routed prejudice and hatred on a national scale.
“Its a sad day for the French GLBT community” Said gay writer and commentator Jason Shaw, “There was little expectation they would favour equality for all their citizens in such a way, but there was hope that they would, at least for once, do the right thing!”
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