Not-So Gay Paree

The French are often considered more sophisticated than us crude Americans, but even they aren't ready for gay marriage:

PARIS (AP) - France's highest court Tuesday rejected as unlawful the first marriage by a gay couple in France, annulling the union of the two men.

Stephane Charpin and Bertrand Charpentier were married in a civil ceremony on June 5, 2004, in Begles, a town in the southwest Bordeaux region. The government immediately said the union was outside the law, and a series of court decisions unfavorable to the couple followed.

In the latest decision, the court ruled that ``under French law, marriage is a union between a man and a woman,'' backing a 2005 decision by an appeals court in Bordeaux.

No other gay couple has married in France since Charpin and Charpentier's 2004 union.

Prosecutor Marc Domingo said during an earlier court hearing that it was the parliament, not judges, who should have the final word in any legalization of marriages involving homosexual couples.

Now there's a radical idea - having legislators decide these important issues instead of judges! I wonder if we could get Mr. Domingo for one of those open U.S. Attorney spots?