French appeals court examines virginity lie

A court decision to annul a Muslim couple's marriage because the bride lied about being a virgin discriminates against women and should be overturned, state prosecutors argued Monday.

This was in the papers a while ago, but I still found it interesting. Since then I do believe the marriage was annulled. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24971969/

Apparently in some marriages, virginity can still be considered a pre-requisite and thus be annulled on the grounds of a breach of contract:

"But in treating the case as a breach of contract, the ruling was decried by critics who said it undermined decades of progress in women's rights. Marriage, they said, was reduced to the status of a commercial transaction in which women could be discarded by husbands claiming to have discovered hidden defects in them."

There are days when I disagree with how France treats the separation of church and state, and how far they take it, but here I believe the government got too involved in something that, despite their claims to the contrary, is essentially an annullment based on religious beliefs.