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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/france-upholds-ban-on-gay-marriage.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Corinne Cestino, right, with her partner Sophie Hasslauer (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/min-france-upholds-ban-on-gay-marriage.jpg" alt="Corinne Cestino, right, with her partner Sophie Hasslauer (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>France&#8217;s top constitutional watchdog has ruled that laws prohibiting gay marriage do not violate the constitution, and noted that parliament was free to make new laws on the subject.</p>
<p>The decision leaves an opening for a constitutional amendment in the future &#8211; and hope for two women who had challenged the French civil code&#8217;s stipulation that marriage must be between a man and a woman.</p>
<p>Corinne Cestino and Sophie Hasslauer, who have lived together for 15 years and have four children, had challenged the constitutionality of the country&#8217;s law banning gay marriage and have sought the right to wed.</p>
<p>In its decision, the Council noted that lawmakers had agreed that the &#8220;difference in situations of same-sex couples and couples made up of a man and a woman can justify a difference in treatment concerning family rights&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is not up to the Constitutional Council to substitute its appreciation for that of lawmakers,&#8221; the body said.</p>
<p>It noted that its job is to simply rule on whether a measure abides by the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the French Constitution. In this case, it ruled that the articles in question are, indeed, &#8220;in conformity with the constitution&#8221;.</p>
<p>Ms Cestino, a paediatrician, said this week: &#8220;It is not so much about getting married, but about having the right to get married. So, that is what we are asking for: Just to be able, like anyone else, to choose to get married or not.&#8221;</p>
<p>The issue exposes a paradox in France &#8211; while the country often has an anything-goes attitude to romance and sexuality, it can be conservative with family values and advocacy group Act Up Paris had hoped the country would soon join European Union partners &#8211; including Spain, Belgium and Netherlands &#8211; that have legalised same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>Hasslauer and Cestino, who are in their 40s, entered into a civil union known as the Civil Solidarity Pact in 2000, mostly useful for its tax benefits and other financial advantages.</p>
<p>The couple had hoped that a negative decision by the Constitutional Council would force France&#8217;s conservative government to sponsor a bill on gay marriage to send to parliament.</p>
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