Jon Henley

Within hours of the ceremony, the interior minister, Dominique Perben, demanded the marriage be annulled “in conformity with the law”. The public prosecutor had also said the union was illegal because France’s civil code did not permit same-sex marriages. Noel Mamhre, the campaigning Green MP who conducted the ceremony in his capacity as mayor of Bhgles, was suspended from his post for a month for “ignoring the warnings of senior government figures” and “gravely misunderstanding his duties as an elected official”.

He said yesterday he was determined to take the struggle further. “It would have been a revolution if the ruling had gone the other way, because they came under pressure from the authorities,” he said.

A recent poll showed 64% of French people in favour of same-sex weddings.

Gay rights activists hailed Mr Chapin’s and Mr Charpentier’s wedding as a victory for tolerance, but the Catholic church and conservatives denounced it as an attack on the very fabric of French society, insisting that children needed a mother and a father and that the issue was too serious to be decided in a hurry.

Politically, the issue is embarrassing both right and left. President Jacques Chirac and the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, have been trying hard to court the gay vote but were obliged to abandon the effort in the face of ” le mariage de Bhgles “.

The left is divided on the controversy: several leading figures, including the former prime minister Lionel Jospin and his family affairs minister, Sigolhne Royal, have said they disapprove; would-be modernisers such as Frangois Hollande, Ms Royal’s partner and the party’s general secretary, are in favour.

Even the popular Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, France’s most senior openly gay politician, finds himself in difficulty. While he has declared his support for gay marriage, and condemned the sanction meted out to Mr Mamhre, he has refused to authorise any same-sex weddings in Paris until the law allows them.

Mr Mamhre argues that nowhere does the French civil code state that a marriage cannot be celebrated between two people of the same sex, and points out that it is an overriding principle of French law that “that which is not specifically outlawed is permissible”.

The Unites States and Europe should try to move beyond “a partnership based on common threats” and focus instead on “common opportunities, beyond the transatlantic community,” she said at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, the elite politics college better known as Sciences-Po.

Rice’s choice of France for the formal unveiling of Washington’s effort to mend badly damaged fences was deliberate: Paris was by far the most outspoken opponent of George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war, and popular anti-American feeling here still runs high.

Tuesday, in a 45-minute speech aimed at convincing Europeans of a more conciliatory mood in Washington, Rice said the two continents should put their experience and resources on the table and “discuss and decide together” the best way forward. But she was uncompromising in demanding European backing for Bush’s pledge, in his State of the Union speech last week, to spread freedom around the world. “America stands ready to work with Europe on our common agenda, and Europe must stand ready to work with America,” she said. “After all, history will surely judge us not by our old disagreements, but by our new achievements.”

Washington’s charm offensive has been broadly welcomed by European diplomats, particularly since the Iraq elections on Jan. 30. At a joint press conference with Rice later Tuesday night, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier spoke of “a new phase, a clean sheet” in European-U.S. ties, adding that both partners must aim “to speak and listen more to each other, and respect each other’s convictions.”

Several French commentators have said they see clear signals that the Bush administration, for long happy to ignore the views of all who did not agree with it, is now determined to place improved transatlantic relations at the heart of the president’s second term.

Rice, telling reporters it was time to “reinvigorate” the French-U.S. relationship, noted that France had been America’s first ever ally and that “when we do work together, there is a great deal we can achieve.”

On Iraq, Rice said Islam and democracy were not mutually exclusive, and that while the political process would be difficult, she was confident that the Shiite majority that is expected to emerge understood “their responsibility not to do to their fellow Iraqis what was done to them by those who had them live in tyranny and fear.”

She added: “I think they will come to a conclusion that will surprise us all in how well they do it.” Rice had brief talks with President Jacques Chirac Tuesday night, and dined with Barnier at the Foreign Ministry headquarters on the Quai d’Orsay.

In a further sign of apparently thawing relations, Bush is due to meet Chirac in Brussels on Feb. 21.

Security arrangements at Sciences-Po, on Paris’ Left Bank, were unprecedented, said the institute’s director, Richard Descoings. An entire wing of the building had been sealed off since Saturday. The venue of the speech was announced publicly only on Monday. Only 100 places were available for students and teachers at the college, with the remainder reserved by the U.S. Embassy.

Those who heard Rice speak, however, were largely skeptical. “There’s still a lot of anti-American feeling in France,” Anne-Laure, a student, said afterward. “I’m not sure any one person can overcome the instinctive reaction here to Bush.”

Rice insisted that the United States had “everything to gain” from a stronger, more united Europe as a “partner in building a safer and better world.” Transatlantic ties, she noted, were unbreakable. “We respect each other,” she said.