Priest and Mayor reflects French divide over marriage equality

As a retired Roman Catholic priest who still conducts the occasional Mass, he will bow to a church that adamantly opposes same-sex unions. But as mayor of this farming village deep in Brittany’s heartland, Geffray is willing to conduct civil marriage ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples. “I belong to two institutions, the Republic and the church, which don’t have the same laws,” he said during an interview at his tiny office in City Hall. “I will abide by both.”