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.”