Paris) April in Paris may be a love song, but it won't be sung at any same-sex weddings in the French capital this month or any month in the foreseeable future even though the city has a gay mayor and a tiny village in the south of France is already planning its first gay wedding.
French law does not specifically ban same-sex marriage, but two sections of the civil code could be used to block them.
One says that during the marriage ceremony the presiding officer "shall receive from each party, one after the other, the declaration that they wish to take each other as man and wife."
The other says the state prosecutor can register opposition to a marriage before it takes place or demand that it be declared void afterward.
For Paris's gay mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, there are bigger issues facing French gay couples. Delanoe says he has no intentions of letting same-sex couples marry in his city. Instead, he says, he wants to focus his attention of gay parenting rights.
Even one of the city's biggest gay rights groups doesn't have marriage on its agenda. Inter-LGBT spokesperson Alain Piriou says that while debate on same-sex marriage is "healthy" more basic civil rights protections need to be addressed first.
"On the ground people are suffering not because they cannot get married but because of homophobia and the way they are viewed," he said.
There's also little interest in the French parliament for legislation to let gays marry. Justice Minister Dominique Perben said that the existing laws would be used to prevent same-sex marriages from being recognized. And, he is threatening to prosecute anyone who officiates at a gay wedding.
France, like most European Union countries, recognizes same-sex domestic partnerships and provides gay partner benefits. Same-sex marriage is legal in Holland and Belgium, and earlier this month Spain announced it would bring in gay marriage legislation. (story)
Perben's threats appear to be falling on deaf ears in the tiny town of Begles, just outside Bordeaux, which will hold its first gay wedding in June. (story)
Mayor Noel Mamere said he will perform the ceremony and because there is no law specifically preventing gay marriage in France it is, by default, legal.
Mamere said that ready or not same-sex marriage is coming to France. If Mamere does go ahead with the wedding, and the government refuses to recognize it or prosecutes him the issue is likely to end up in court, possibly going as far as the European court.
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