Yahoo – AFP,
28 Jan 2015
The Cour de
Cassation, France's highest appeals court, on Wednesday gave the
go-ahead for a
French-Moroccan gay couple to marry (AFP Photo/Martin Bureau)
|
Paris (AFP)
- France's highest appeals court on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for a
French-Moroccan gay couple to marry, going against a ruling that homosexuals
from Morocco and 10 other nations cannot tie the knot in the country.
France
legalised same-sex marriage in 2013 after months of intense and sometimes
violent protests, and the couple -- Dominique and Mohammed -- immediately got
to work planning their official union.
But just
two days before the wedding, prosecutors in the southeastern city of Chambery
ruled it could not go ahead.
They cited
a government circular stating that nationals from countries as diverse as
Morocco, Poland and Laos were not allowed to marry people of the same sex in
France.
They are
among 11 nations that ban gay marriage and had signed agreements with France
under which a citizen in a binational couple must obey his or her own nation's
marriage law.
Since their
failed attempt to tie the knot, two separate courts had ruled that Dominique
and Mohammed -- who have asked for their last names not to be published --
could marry.
So
prosecutors took the case to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest appeals
court.
On
Wednesday, the court said that a clause in the agreement signed between France
and Morocco on the issue stipulated that the law of one of the countries could
be discarded when it was "obviously incompatible with public order".
Public
order is a set of rules that help organise a nation, its economy, health
system, security, and also includes the rights and freedoms deemed necessary
for each citizen.
The court
ruled that freedom to marry was a fundamental right in France, and going
against it would therefore be incompatible with public order.
The
decision could create a precedent and allow gay citizens from the 11 countries
concerned to tie the knot in France.
Socialist
President Francois Hollande, who had pledged to legalise gay marriage after
taking office, faced a huge backlash from the opposition right and the powerful
Catholic Church.
The first
gay wedding in France was held in May 2013 in the southern city of Montpellier,
which has a gay-friendly reputation.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.