Both foreign and domestic courts are increasingly having to rule on the issue of gay marriage. In the US, judges in Wisconsin, California and Texas [JURIST reports] confronted the issue last year. Governments in Mexico, Kenya, Argentina, Portugal and Germany [JURIST reports] are also addressing the issue. In 2007, the French Court of Cassation ruled that same-sex marriages were not valid under French law [JURIST report] and that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. The case arose in 2004 when Stephane Charpin and Bertrand Charpentier were married [JURIST report], after which both a local court and intermediate appeals court ruled that the marriage was invalid. State lawyers argued that it was not an issue for the courts to decide, but rather was a question to be answered by parliament.