Mayor in hot water over gay wedding

New York Times, AFP, The Age ^ | 7JUN04 | Elaine Sciolino

[familyop]

Paris
France marked its first gay wedding at the weekend, despite warnings from 
the Government that the ceremony was illegal and the Mayor who officiated 
could be punished.

Noel Mamere, a leader of the Green Party and Mayor of the south-west town 
of Begles, presided at the town hall over the wedding of two men, Bertrand 
Charpentier, 31, a shopworker, and Stephane Chapin, 34, a nurse.

"I'm proud of this wedding," Mr Mamere told the couple. "I don't consider 
myself an outlaw."

Belgium and the Netherlands are the only countries in Europe that recognise 
same-sex marriages.

In proceeding with the ceremony on Saturday, Mr Mamere ignored pressure 
from President Jacques Chirac's centre-right Government.

Mr Mamere could be suspended as Mayor and fined $A2650, but any punishment 
would have little political effect. Mr Mamere, a savvy, outspoken 
journalist-turned-politician, could remain a member of Parliament.

Regional officials have launched a procedure to suspend Mr Mamere for up to 
a month, giving him until June 12 to explain himself either in person or in 
writing.

An hour after the ceremony, Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin 
announced that the Government had initiated a sanctions procedure against 
Mr Mamere. "I intend to make sure the law of the republic and the authority 
of the state are respected," Mr de Villepin said.

Last week, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin warned: "If such a ceremony 
takes place, it cannot be called a marriage.""

Justice Minister Dominique Perben has also expressed his opposition, as has 
Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux, who is president of the 
Conference of Bishops of France.

The Catholic Church opposes gay weddings "because marriage also ensures the 
renewal of generations, the clarity of filial and parental ties and 
provides security to the adults and the children who are the fruit of that 
union, which is not the case of unions between people of the same sex", 
Archbishop Ricard wrote recently in a newspaper commentary. He has called 
France a hypocritical country when it comes to marriage.

He argued that the relevant law - article 75 of the country's civil code, 
which dates back to Napoleon - is vague and does not require that marriage 
bind a man and a woman. The article states that a couple entering marriage 
"will receive a declaration from each party that they want to take each 
other for husband and wife".

The Government, however, wants to restrict gay partnerships to a civil 
contract known as the civil solidarity pact, a legal mechanism introduced 
in 1999 that gives all adult couples - regardless of their sex or sexual 
orientation - many of the same financial and social rights as those who are 
formally wedded.

A handful of mayors of other small French towns have said they will follow 
Mr Mamere's lead and preside at gay marriages.



- New York Times, AFP