It sounds as though they want no part of this fiasco.
Yet here in Washington, a florist is being sued by the “couple” and the state Attorney General for refusing to provide the flowers for their “wedding” because it violates her religious beliefs. It will probably bring punishments and loss of her business license.
I can’t find any mention of homosexuality, or sexuality of any kind, in the Constitution, but there used to be a right to exercise your religion free of government interference. Maybe I have an earlier edition of that document, is that it?
Homo-haters. Hate is not a principle.
Cant the French government make these mayors disappear?
Like into a diversity sensitivity concentration camp?
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Good, France, didn’t think they had it in them.
That’s a start...
Hmmmmmm...
I guess maybe we should lighten up a little bit on Les Grenouilles. I’ll bet most American Mayors would freak out at the thought of refusing to preside over a packer pact.
It’s pretty bad when the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys are standing up for what’s right more than Americans are.
Who would have known? Guidance, moral courage and leadership from the French.
You know that’s a funny headline, right? Just sayin’...
The communesThe commune, which dates from 1789, is the lowest tier of the French administrative hierarchy. There are nearly 37,000 communes, many more than are found in the other countries of the European Union. In France the term commune is applied to all municipalities whatever their size – 80 per cent of them have fewer than 1,000 residents. This situation has led the government to encourage smaller communes to merge to form urban communities (communautés urbaines) or group together in associations of several communes (syndicats intercommunaux). In addition, the law of 6 February 1992 suggested new forms of co-operation to rationalise municipal administration by taking common interests into consideration. In reality, the closer links often go no further than pooling a few services and mergers are extremely rare, as both residents and local councillors often retain a strong sense of identity with their communes.
Like the department and region, the commune has a deliberative or decision-making body (the municipal council) and an executive (the Mayor), elected by the municipal council. The number of municipal councillors is proportional to the population. Elected for six years by direct universal suffrage, municipal councillors lay down guidelines for municipal policy, adopt the budget, manage municipal assets, notably primary school buildings and equipment, and decide how the municipal administration is to operate.
The Mayor has two hats, since he or she is both the commune's elected authority and the state's representative in it. As the commune's chief executive, the Mayor carries out the decisions of the municipal council. As the municipality's legal representative, the Mayor proposes and implements the budget, ensures the conservation and management of the commune's natural environment and built heritage and issues building permits. Mayors also have powers in their own right, being responsible for security and public health and having at their disposal the municipal administration, which they head.
As the state's representative, the Mayor is the registrar of births, marriages (at which he/she officiates) and deaths and is an officer of the police ‘judiciaire’ and so entitled to exercise special powers in connection with the repression of crime under the authority of the public prosecutor. Finally, he/she is responsible for various administrative tasks including publicising laws and regulations and drawing up the electoral register. Mayoral acts are unilateral administrative acts, generally orders, whose legality is subject to a control by the courts when they are issued by the Mayor as the commune's chief executive and to the approval of the Prefect (see below) to whom the Mayor is subordinate when acting in the capacity of the state's representative.
So the commune's own powers cover activities which affect its inhabitants' daily lives. Its economic and social brief, long limited to granting aid for job creation and helping needy families, has been broadened to enable it to play an important role in combating unemployment and social exclusion and engage actively in economic restructuring and development of new activities.
A complex system aims to bring French local government closer to the people
By Nick Swift and Guy Kervella, European Editor
For the first time in my life I’m proud of the French.