Gay marriage in France? ... Not yet!

Some legal news from France ... I just read the article and chronology in today's online version of Le Monde: The French Cour de Cassation (highest court in France that hears all final appeals except administrative law cases) annulled the notorious marriage of Bègles - the first and only gay marriage of France [for detailed report, Cour de Cassation press release]. The court held that the current French family law restricts marriage to a union between a man and a woman and that it is upon the legislature (and not the judiciary) to change the law in order to allow gay couples to marry should the situation arise.

The current legal situation of homosexual partners in France is as follows: Since 1999, homosexual couples, as well as heterosexual couples, may form a PACS ("Pacte Civil de Solidarité" - Civil Solidarity Pact). The PACS is a contractual agreement between the partners giving their union a certain legal status short of marriage [Wikipedia, in French]. For example, on the one hand, "pacsés" owe each other mutual aid, are liable for each other's debts incurred during the union, have certain social rights. On the other hand, however, they are not entitled to inherit from each other intestate, and, as recently decided by the Cour de Cassation [press release], one "pacsé" is not allowed to adopt the child of the other without the biological parent losing her right, a result which the court considered not to be in the interest of the child. A situation principally different to that of married couples where one partner is allowed to adopt the other's child in order to have common child custody. Again, as it did today, the court emphasized that changes of the current law should be done by the legislature.

Interestingly, in France, the matter of gay couples seem to re-appear on the political agenda. Yet, this time, the question is not whether homosexual partnerships should be generally accepted and accorded rights. Rather, the discussion turns to the point of eliminating any distinction between homosexual and heterosexual partnerships in order to allow homosexual partners to marry, all legal (and social?) consequences inclusive. France could again, as already with the legal recognition of homosexual partnerships (by introducing PACS), set the ball rolling for a general acceptance of gay marriages in Europe. Let us see how the situation further develops ...