Court to look at gay marriage ban

FRANCE’S constitutional court is to rule on whether gay marriage should remain illegal.

The country’s highest appeal court, the Cour de Cassation, asked the Conseil Constitutionnel to look at the Code Civil articles that exclude same-sex marriages.

It follows a plea on behalf of individuals in Reims who said that article 75 and 144 of the Code Civil were illegal for limiting the “personal freedom” of a citizen to marry someone of the same sex.

The Cour de Cassation said it was directing the query to Les Sages of the Conseil Constitutionnel because the question of same-sex marriage was “new” and “serious” and the subject of a large debate in society, because it was allowed in several other countries, such as Britain, Holland, Portugal and Spain.

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