France's first gay marriage - performed last month in the south-west city of Bordeaux - was officially declared void by a court Tuesday. The judge sided with the conservative government by ruling that the June 5 wedding between a shopkeeper and a male nurse was not allowed under French law.
The mayor of the Bordeaux suburb of Begles who officiated at the ceremony, Noel Mamere, who is also a leading member of the opposition Greens party, has already been suspended from his post for a month over the matter. He and the two men he joined - shopkeeper Bertrand Charpentier, 31, and nurse Stephane Chapin, 33 - have previously vowed to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights should France block the marriage.
Their union generated intense attention in France, where a civil contract known as PACS has since 1999 permitted couples - including same-sex ones - to attain some of the legal rights of marriage, but not others, notably those dealing with taxes and inheritance.
President Jacques Chirac and his government have argued that French law stipulates a wedding can only be between a man and a woman. But gay rights supporters argue the text is not that clear and, in any case, the country should adapt to new social realities.
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