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French mayors and their deputies cannot invoke their freedom of conscience to refuse to perform same-sex marriages that Paris legalized last May, the country's Constitutional Council ruled on Friday. Seven mayors, backed by groups that led mass protests against gay nuptials early this year, asked France's highest constitutional authority for a ruling after the Interior Ministry threatened dissenters with jail or fines. Gay marriage opponents condemned the decision and vowed to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights. "The legislator has not violated their freedom of conscience," the Council said in its ruling. | 
