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.
法国的市长及其副手们不能再以“良心自由”为由，拒绝为同性恋者举行婚礼了。据英国媒 体报道，法国宪法委员会10月18日裁定，法国内政部警告公务人员有义务依法主持同性恋婚礼否则将被严惩的行为没有侵犯公民的“良心自由”权利。反同性恋 婚姻者对此表示不满，誓要前往欧洲人权法庭继续申诉。
今年5月18日，法国政府宣布，总统奥朗德已经签署通过同性恋婚姻的法律。自此，法国成为欧洲第9个、世界上第14个认可同性婚姻的国家。然而，这项同性恋婚姻法案在法国颇受争议。
依据法国法律，公民结婚必须先到政府登记，并且婚礼要由市长或者市长的副手主持，然后选择宗教婚礼的新人才能前往教堂举行仪式。
自同性恋婚姻法案正式生效后，一些市长公开表示他们不会为同性恋者主持婚礼。由此，法 国内政部长曼努埃尔·瓦尔斯发出警告称，公务人员有义务遵守法律，倘若市长及其副手们执意拒绝主持同性婚礼，他们将因“歧视”而面临5年监禁或7500欧 元（约合6.3万元人民币）的罚款。随后，在反同性恋婚姻团体的支持下，7名市长要求法国宪法委员会裁决内政部的上述行为是否违宪。
当地时间18日，法国宪法委员会公布裁决，称“立法机构没有侵犯他们良心自由的权利”，并且政府颁布的法律中不包含选择退出条款，“从而确保法律得到相关机构的有效执行，保证公共服务的中立性和正常运行”。
路迪唯·容契是法国一个倡导传统婚礼组织的负责人，他对宪法委员会的裁决感到强烈不满，“接下来，我们会去欧洲人权法庭”。巴黎地区地方议员罗梅罗则认为，宪法委员会做得很好，“对于憎恶同性恋的市长而言，这是一个挫败，国家法律不能被选择性地执行”。
此外，根据法国同性恋杂志“Tetu”发布的数据，从今年6月到9月，共有510对同性恋者在巴黎登记结婚，占到该市同期结婚总人数的12%。