Rabat - France's top court has validated on Wednesday the marriage of a French-Moroccan gay couple, challenging an earlier government circular stating that nationals from certain countries were not allowed to marry people of the same sex in France.
According to Agence France Press (AFP), the couple, only identified as Dominique and Mohammed, were not able to tie the knot beforehand since Morocco is among 11 nations than ban gay marriage and had signed agreements with France under which a citizen in a binational couple must obey his or her own nation's marriage law.
France's highest court built its decision to validate the marriage of the gay couple on a clause in the agreement signed between France and Morocco on the issue, which stipulates that the law of one of the countries could be discarded when it was "obviously incompatible with public order."
France's highest appeals court said that the freedom to marry is a fundamental right in France. Going against it would therefore be incompatible with public order, AFP reported.
France legalized same-sex marriage in 2013 despite intense and sometimes violent protests, especially from the opposition right and the powerful Catholic Church.