France: 'Mariage gai - Nul et non avenu' (Nul and void)

The marriage last month of gay couple Stephane Chapin and Bertrand Charpentier has been declared nul and void by a court in Bordeaux. This is on top of it already having been declared invalid by French Justice Minister Dominique Perben.

I think what the authorities are trying to say, although perhaps one cannot be absolutely certain, is that they do not wish marriages between people of the same gender to take place, despite the contention of the lawyers retained by the couple that no article in the French civil code forbade the marriage of two persons of the same sex and no text defined marriage as "the union of a man and a woman". Is there something I am missing here, or is it just the public confirmation of the profound prejudices which characterise French society?