法國裁定：市長不能拒絕主持同性婚姻

French mayors and their deputies cannot invoke their freedom of conscience to refuse to perform same-sex marriages that Paris legalized last May, the country's Constitutional Council ruled on Friday.

Seven mayors, backed by groups that led mass protests against Gay nuptials early this year, asked France's highest constitutional authority for a ruling after the Interior Ministry threatened dissenters with jail or fines.

Gay marriage opponents condemned the decision and vowed to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights.

"The legislator has not violated their freedom of conscience," the Council said in its ruling.

The government did not include an opt-out clause "to assure the law is applied by its agents and to guarantee the proper functioning and neutrality of public service," it added.

President Francois Hollande promised to legalize gay marriage as the major social reform of his five-year presidency. It is a touchstone issue for many of his Socialist supporters.

After the law came into effect, several mayors announced they would refuse to perform such marriages, prompting Interior Minister Manuel Valls to issue a memo warning they risked five years in jail or a 7,500-euro fine for discrimination.

Under French law, all couples must be married in civil ceremonies conducted by mayors or their deputies. Those choosing a religious wedding can only do so after this ceremony.

Ludovine de la Rochere, head of the "Demo for All" movement championing traditional marriage, rejected the ruling and said: "We will go to the European Court of Human Rights."

But Paris regional councilor Jean-Luc Romero hailed it as a setback for "homophobic mayors" and said: "This country's laws are not applied selectively."

Valls's memo reminded mayors and their deputies that they could empower a municipal councilor to perform a marriage if they were not available, but not out of opposition to the law.

According to the gay magazine Tetu, 510 same-sex couples married in Paris in the four months from June to September, accounting for 12 percent of all weddings celebrated during that period in the French capital.法國的市長及其副手們不能再以“良心自由”爲由，拒絕爲同性戀者舉行婚禮了。據英國媒體報道，法國憲法委員會10月18日裁定，法國內政部警告公務人員有義務依法主持同性戀婚禮否則將被嚴懲的行爲沒有侵犯公民的“良心自由”權利。反同性戀婚姻者對此表示不滿，誓要前往歐洲人權法庭繼續申訴。

今年5月18日，法國政府宣佈，總統奧朗德已經簽署通過同性戀婚姻的法律。自此，法國成爲歐洲第9個、世界上第14個認可同性婚姻的國家。然而，這項同性戀婚姻法案在法國頗受爭議。

依據法國法律，公民結婚必須先到政府登記，並且婚禮要由市長或者市長的副手主持，然後選擇宗教婚禮的新人才能前往教堂舉行儀式。

自同性戀婚姻法案正式生效後，一些市長公開表示他們不會爲同性戀者主持婚禮。由此，法國內政部長曼努埃爾·瓦爾斯發出警告稱，公務人員有義務遵守法律，倘若市長及其副手們執意拒絕主持同性婚禮，他們將因“歧視”而面臨5年監禁或7500歐元（約合6.3萬元人民幣）的罰款。隨後，在反同性戀婚姻團體的支持下，7名市長要求法國憲法委員會裁決內政部的上述行爲是否違憲。

當地時間18日，法國憲法委員會公佈裁決，稱“立法機構沒有侵犯他們良心自由的權利”，並且政府頒佈的法律中不包含選擇退出條款，“從而確保法律得到相關機構的有效執行，保證公共服務的中立性和正常運行”。

路迪唯·容契是法國一個倡導傳統婚禮組織的負責人，他對憲法委員會的裁決感到強烈不滿，“接下來，我們會去歐洲人權法庭”。巴黎地區地方議員羅梅羅則認爲，憲法委員會做得很好，“對於憎惡同性戀的市長而言，這是一個挫敗，國家法律不能被選擇性地執行”。

此外，根據法國同性戀雜誌“Tetu”發佈的數據，從今年6月到9月，共有510對同性戀者在巴黎登記結婚，佔到該市同期結婚總人數的12%。