STRASBOURG, France, June 29, 2016 (LifeSiteNews)— The European Court for Human Rights has ruled that same-sex “marriages” are not considered a human right, making it clear that homosexual partnerships do not in fact equal marriages between a man and a woman.

The ruling was announced June 9 in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, and closed out a discussion dating to 2004.

The court’s decision was in response to an unlawful same-sex “wedding” conducted June 5, 2004, by Noël Mamère, mayor of the French city Bègles and a member of the Green Party. At the time, Mamère explained the decision by saying, “Marriage is a social construct and procreation is no condition of its validity, otherwise we would need to render unions without children null.”

Mamère had advocated same-sex “marriage” since 2002 and chose to approve the 2004 “wedding” despite 4,000 letters sent to him. “I take the risk, I accept to be a provocateur,” Mamère said. The “marriage” was cancelled shortly after and the mayor was suspended from office for one month. Yet his effort sparked discussions in France and helped lead to the country’s approval of same-sex “marriages” in May 2013.

This month, 12 years after the incident, the European Court put an end to the matter. The ruling bars people with same-sex attraction from launching lawsuits to obtain a same-sex “marriage.” The decision is in direct opposition to lobbying by groups like ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association), who fight for “equal marriage” rights and adoption rights for homosexual couples on an international scale and receive two-thirds of their financing from the EU Commission.

The decision of the European Court for Human Rights should bring to a halt pressure exerted by the ILGA and similar groups, especially in Eastern European countries, who fight for legislation that recognizes the uniqueness of a marriage between one man and one woman.

In the aftermath of Brexit, even many non-Europeans wonder just how much power the EU has over the legislation of member states. In many instances, past EU rulings can be criticized. But this time the European Court for Human Rights made a historic step in the support of traditional marriage. No EU member state is therefore obliged to grant the possibility of a “marriage” to people with same-sex attraction based on their human rights.

While this ruling seems to be a step in the right direction, at the same time the EU Commission recently laid out a six-point plan showing how rights for people with same-sex attraction will be implemented in all member states, the German newspaper “Freie Welt” reported. In order to stop the EU influence in legislation of this kind, the last few years were marked by referenda against EU policies in Lithuania (2009), Slovenia (2012), Croatia (2013), and Romania and Slovakia (2015).

The EU answered the referenda, which was intended to safeguard the national sovereignty especially in family rights issues, with the establishment of political mechanisms of coercion and monitoring.

Does the ruling thus remain a drop in the ocean? Maybe Brexit set an example that others will follow.