It's early days yet, but there's potentially some good news for gays and lesbians in France, if not the U.S.
Le Monde is reporting (linked article is in French; my translation of the relevant parts into English is below the fold) that the highest constitutional authority in France has been asked to render an opinion that could make marriage equality legal there. In 1999, the French legislature passed Law No. 99-944 establishing the Pacte civile de solidarité, effectively a civil union that gives most of the same rights as marriage to French gays and lesbians. It is not yet clear whether the PACS would continue to be an option or whether it would have to be scrapped in favor of simple civil marriages, if the court rules in the appellants' favor.
The French judicial system is a bit complex, but the details aren't particularly relevant to this bit of news. Suffice it to say that the Cour de cassation and the Conseil constitutionnel are both very roughly equivalent (in different spheres) to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Cour de cassation is the last stop for all legal matters, while the Conseil constitutionnel is the only judicial body empowered to rule on the constitutionality of legislation.
Here's my translation of the first couple of paragraphs from the linked story in Le Monde:
On Tuesday, 16 November, the Cour de cassation referred the issue of gay marriage, which is currently prohibited in France, to the Conseil constitutionnel. On August 24, the Superior Court in Reims referred to the Cour de cassation a priority question on the constitutionality of articles 75 and 144 of the Civil Code, which prohibit marriage between persons of the same gender. This mechanism allows French jurists to challenge the constitutionality of a statutory proceeding in the course of pending litigation when, in the judge's opinion, the legislation infringes on the rights and liberties guaranteed by the constitution.
For the appellants, articles 75 and 144 are unconstitutional because they effectively "restrict the liberty of the individual French citizen to contract marriage with a person of the same gender." In an opinion handed down on Tuesday, the First Civil Division of the Cour de cassation held that this question was "new" and "serious," since gay marriage "is the subject of considerable public debate today due, in large part, to changing mores and the legislative recognition of same-gender marriages in many other countries."
In a perfect world, anyone in the U.S. attempting to challenge the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act should be able to cite this decision (when it is handed down, and assuming, of course, that the Conseil constitutionnel rules in favor of the appellants) to make an argument that DOMA is unconstitutional, but the bias of Republicans (and the judges they appoint to the bench) to foreign legal precedents is well-known.