JURIST - Paper Chase: French mayor who presided over gay marriage suspended

French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin has suspended Noel Mamere, mayor of the French town of Begles, from his job for one month for conducting a gay marriage without proper authority. Mamere officiated at the June 5 marriage (see this previous report on JURIST's Paper Chase) because he wanted to take a step towards ending discrimination of all kinds. Mamere's suspension is based on a law that allows the suspension of mayors who "gravely misunderstand their duties." Read de Villepin's statement (in French), in which he writes that Mamere "willingly aggravated the fault he committed" by defying the law despite demands that he not go ahead with the ceremony and by "giving widespread publicity to the ceremony over which he presided." AP has the full story.