Gay France News and Reports 2009-11

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
The French Secretary of State for Parliamentary Relations has revealed he is gay in an interview ahead of the publication of his autobiography. Roger Karoutchi is a close personal friend of President Nicholas Sarkozy and a former MEP and Senator.

"Yes, I have a life," he told AFP. "I’m neither living a lie, nor flaunting anything. I discuss it naturally. I have a partner and I’m happy with him. As I’m happy, I see no reason why I should hide that."

Mr Karoutchi becomes the first openly gay minister in France. The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, is one of the few out gay people in French politics and is a possible candidate for the Presidency in 2012. Unlike the UK, the French press rarely report on the personal lives of politicians. During his 2007 Presidential campaign Mr Sarkozy made some positive references to gay rights, though he reiterated his opposition to gay marriage. Speaking to La Liberation newspaper Mr Sarkozy said the Roman Catholic church’s position on gays was shocking.

"I was born heterosexual. I have never questioned myself about the choice of my sexuality. That is why the church’s position, which consists of saying "Homosexuality is a sin," is shocking," he told the newspaper. One doesn’t choose one’s identity. One has the identity that one has."

Mr Sarkozy also shared his opinions on the nature of sexuality: "Not everything depends on nurture, but that part could be nature. In what proportion? I am not a scientist. For example, when I was a child I was shocked because people explained to me, when a child was homosexual: "His mother was wrong, she slept with him." When a child was anorexic, people said: "The father was absent." When a child was autistic, people said: "Oh! The parents got divorced, that caused a shock." Since then we know that autism is genetic. I think that sexuality also is an identity."

March 26, 2009 – PinkNews

2
French Senate votes to recognise British civil partnerships

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
France may soon recognise British civil partnerships if an amendment to the law is passed. Currently, British recognises French partnerships, known as Pacs (Pacte Civil de Solidarité) but France does not reciprocate this recognition. The English-language newspaper The Connexion reports that the proposal to amend the law was made by Green Party senator Alima Boumediene-Thiery. It was jointly supported by Green and Socialist senators and has now been agreed by the whole upper house.

It will be heard in the National Assembly, where supporters believe it will be passed. As it stands, the law means British couples in civil partnerships who live in France have to pay heavy inheritance taxes of 60 per cent if one of them dies. French couples in Pacs do not have to pay such duties. Jerry Lea, who owned a holiday home in France with his partner Geoff Page is facing a large inheritance tax bill after Mr Page died in the country last April.

The couple, who were in a civil partnership, jointly owned a property in France but Mr Lea has been told he may have to pay a 60 per cent rate of inheritance tax on Mr Page’s half of the home. France has suggested that British civil partners can divorce and then get a Pacs, which will be valid in both countries. However, legal experts have suggested that this would convene the European Convention on human rights and would be unworkable as ‘unreasonable behaviour’ or a separation of two years would have to be proved.

April 29, 2009 – PinkNews

3
French National Assembly approves recognising foreign civil partnerships

by Henrietta Ronson
France’s National Assembly finally approved of the measure to have foreign civil partnerships recognised in France as PACS in the early hours of this morning. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has 15 days to “promulgate” the measure into law after the Senate passed it last month. The President cannot veto a measure passed by the National Assembly under the French constitution. He can however pass it back to the Assembly for further consideration.

Article 10 reads in the official English translation: “The President of the Republic shall promulgate Acts of Parliament within 15 days following the final passage of an Act and its transmission to the government, He may, before the expiry of this time limit, ask Parliament to reopen debate on the Act or any sections thereof. Such reopening of debate shall not be refused.”

The passage of the measure in the French National Assembly was welcomed this morning in Brussels. Both the European Union and the European Parliament had been putting pressure on the French government to recognise the legal status of same-sex couples who had registered their partnerships in different countries. The non-recognition of foreign same-sex couples by France had been highly contentious among ex-pats from EU countires living in France as those EU countries that have same-sex relationships laws recognise PACS (Pacte Civil de Solidarité).

Before this morning, Britain recognised French partnerships but France did not reciprocate this recognition. The English-language newspaper The Connexion has previously reported that the proposal to amend the law had been made by Green Party senator Alima Boumediene-Thiery. It was jointly supported by Green and Socialist senators and was consequently agreed by the whole upper house.

As it stood, the law meant that British couples in civil partnerships who lived in France had to pay heavy inheritance taxes of 60 per cent if one of them died. French couples in PACS did not however have to pay such duties. Christian Vanneste, a well-known homophobic politician, had tabled an amendment in opposition to the measure but it was dropped after he failed to turn up.

Mr Vanneste represents the Nord constituency and is a member of the Union for Popular Movement. In 2006 he became the first French citizen to be fined 3,000 euros after making homophobic remarks in the National Assembly. He said that gays were a threat to the survival of humanity, and “morally inferior”. He later repeated his statement to the media.

May 5, 2009 – UKGayNews.org.uk

4
International Congress on Gay Rights in France Will Mark IDAHO 2009

London – An international congress on homophobia and transphobia has been organised by the French, Dutch and Norwegian governments and will take place in Paris on May 15 as part of a worldwide initiative to mark the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. (IDAHO).

The congress is a follow up initiative to the United Nations declaration against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity which was signed by 66 countries last December, and by the Unioted States earlier this year. The declaration arose from negotiations between Louis Georges Tin, the President of the International Day against Homophobia, other LGBT and Human Rights Organisations and the French Government.

“I hope everyone involved in the IDAHO-UK campaign is proud of the part they have played in this international campaign to stop LGBT people around the world from being murdered, imprisoned or harassed simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Derek Leonnard, the IDAHO-UK coordinator, said this morning.

The main objectives of the conference will be to organise a strategy to obtain more signatures and support from other States, to determine a strategy to campaign internationally around the aims of the UN declaration, and to coordinate this action with “civil society initiatives”. It is believed that the congress will also focus on the “right to health of LGBT people” and “Human Rights and Gender Identity”.

It is believed that Ministers or Secretary of States from the following countries have confirmed their attendance: Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic, Mexico, the Netherlands, UK, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Norway and France. It is expected that there will be some 40 or more civil society speakers on the various panels, coming from all global regions and from a large variety of organisations.

IDAHO embarked on a campaign to decriminalise homosexuality worldwide in 2006.

June 30, 2009 – PBS.org

5
Beyond Hatred

by Paul LeGendre – Director, Fighting Discrimination Program Human Rights First
On a dark night in 2002, three young men, believers in a supremacist neo-Nazi ideology, waited in a park in the French city of Rheims to "do an Arab." Instead, they settled on attacking a gay man, who was just as foreign to them and therefore just as suitable as a target. Francois Chenu was brutally beaten and murdered because he was gay.

Beyond Hatred is a haunting portrayal of the immense damage caused by one violent hate crime in one city in France. Yet tens of thousands of violent hate crimes motivated by a wide range of prejudice occur every year across Europe and North America — indeed all around the world. Most are never reported, often due to mistrust of the authorities. Among those that are, accountability is unfortunately rare. While still relatively few hate crimes end in death, as occurred in the case of Francois, each of them — especially when a swift government response is lacking — chips away at our societies’ professed values of equality and nondiscrimination. Francois’s family members are courageously seeking to live "beyond hatred" in the film. The quest for justice — before the law — plays a key role in that process, as it does everywhere there is hate crime.

Reports indicate that homophobic violence is a significant portion of hate crime overall. Violent acts motivated by homophobia are also characterized by levels of physical aggression that in many cases exceed those for other forms of reported hate crimes. But all such acts — whether motivated by bias based on the victim’s ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or another similar factor — have far-ranging consequences. Apart from having a profound impact on the victim and the victim’s family and friends, hate crimes send a message of hatred to the larger community that may identify with the victim — precisely because such crimes attack a person’s very identity. Even further, as Francois’s parents so poignantly articulate, hate crimes collide with the republican values of France (and those of other democratic societies) that represent first and foremost an open and pluralistic society where individuals of different backgrounds can coexist peacefully.

The intolerance that drives hate crimes is deeply disturbing. Beyond Hatred demonstrates how the beer-guzzling, Hitler-chanting, neo-Nazi youths who murdered Francois were trapped in a vacuum of ignorance where the act of hating those who were different gave meaning to their lives.

Addressing the intolerance at the root of violent hate crimes is no easy matter and requires action on many levels. The criminal justice system has a major role to play in ensuring society’s condemnation of such crimes. The film takes us on a journey in which the process of bringing the perpetrators to justice becomes an important step in the family’s grieving and recovery. Accountability before the law — while it cannot bring back a life senselessly lost — can help to reassure communities and society at large that hate violence will not be tolerated.

August19, 2009 – On Top Magazine

6
Gay Entertainment Report: ‘Single Man’ Leads Queer Lion

Directors Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi are set to preside over the Queer Lion award jury panel at the Venice International Film Festival. Hofer and Ragazzi, whose documentary on gay marriage in Italy Suddenly Last Winter won a Panorama special mention at last year’s Berlin Film Festival, will have their fill screening the record fourteen films in competition this year. Fashion designer turned film director Tom Ford will premiere A Single Man, the big screen adaption of Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel of the same name, starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode.

Isherwood’s novel centers on college professor George (played by Firth) as he struggles on after the sudden loss of his partner, Jim (played by Goode). George is the ultimate outsider in 1960s Los Angeles: middle-aged, gay and British. “The story is a romantic tale of love interrupted, the isolation that is an inherent part of the human condition, and ultimately the importance of the seemingly smaller moments in life,” Fade to Black, Ford’s production company, said in a statement.

The Queer Lion prize recognizes gay-themed films officially screening at the Venice Film Festival or one of its sidebars. A Single Man is the only Queer Lion candidate also in competition for the festival’s main prize, the Golden Lion, and will premiere on Friday, September 11. Other films in competition for the 3rd annual prize include Claudio Noce’s Good Morning Aman, a film about a man who strikes up a friendship with a former boxer in Rome, Luca Guadagnino’s Lo Sono L’Amore (I Am Love), a drama set in Milan at the turn of the millennium starring Tilda Swinton, and Stefano Consiglio’s L’Amore E Basta (Love Is Enough), a film about nine gay and lesbian couples.

Also involved in judging the films will be journalist Mark Smith, film critic Roberto Schinardi and director Peter Marcias.

Gay Entertainment Report is a feature of On Top Magazine and can be reached at OnTopMagazine.

October 5, 2009 – Passport Magazine

7
Kiss-in Against Homophobia

Our fabulous friends in Paris are at it again.. another "Kiss-in Against Homophobia", this time in the Forum at Les Halles. It took place on Saturday, September 26. And Le Gay Clic captured it on video

"PASSPORT Travels"

February 14, 2010 – The Huffington Post

8
Gay ‘Kiss-In’ In Paris Takes Place Despite Threats (VIDEO)

The French website Yagg has posted video (with English translations) of a gay ‘kiss-in’ that took place in Paris despite various reported threats of violence.

Towleroad has a translation of the report:
"The "kiss-in" had originally been planned to take place in front of Notre Dame Cathedral but Christian Fundamentalist websites called in to "defend their faith against this provocation" using ‘aids bags’, ‘sodomites’ and other homophobic insults. The websites called for a violent response so the organizers decided to change the location to place Saint Michel in the nearby Latin Quarter, after the police strongly encouraged it, saying they could not protect them in case of trouble. The kiss in was held peacefully at St-Michel but some gays went to Notre Dame anyway and witnesses are saying 200 Christian activists were expecting them, and after they started kissing, they were attacked with motorbike helmets and kicked."

June 4th 2010 – New York Daily News

9
Gay McDonald’s ad, airing in France, evokes strong reactions around the world over message

by Nick Klopsis, Daily News Writer
A gay-themed McDonald’s advertisement in France is causing a stir around the globe. The advertisement, which uses the slogan "Come As You Are", was meant to "recognize the diversity of McDonald’s customers in France" a McDonald’s Australian spokeswoman told the Sydney Morning Herald. The ad opens with a closeted young boy talking on the phone with his lover and looking longingly at their class picture. After telling his lover "I miss you too," he quickly hangs up when his father returns with their order.

The father sees the class photo and begins to reflect on his own youth, saying, "You look just like me at your age. Let me tell you, I was quite the ladies’ man!" He then says to his son, "Too bad your class is all boys … you could get all the girls." The boy wryly smiles to himself, and the advertisement slogan appears on the screen. Some groups are questioning the rationale behind McDonalds’ ad. Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly mocked the ad during a segment on his show, asking if the company had an "Al-Qaeda ad?" But others are trumpeting the ad for its ability to avoid stereotyping.

Rodney Croome, spokesperson for the Australian Coalition for Equality, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the ad was "a refreshingly realistic depiction of a young man who’s in a same-sex relationship, who isn’t angst-ridden and who is in control of his life even as he faces the question all young gay people face: ‘When do I tell my dad?’"

Croome added, "The irony about this ad receiving so much attention is its message is that being gay is just another part of life. McDonald’s brand director in France says the ad simply looks at how French society is today. "We’re very comfortable with the topic of homosexuality, there is obviously no problem with homosexuality in France today," Nathalie Legarlantezec told Yagg.com. "The point was not to show someone who is troubled, especially a teenager. We know it can be difficult for some people, but we wouldn’t have dared show someone who is struggling."

But don’t expect the controversial ad to make its way to the states just yet. Lisa Howards, McDonalds’s director of corporate media relations, told Media Matters that the "Come as You Are" campaign was made exclusively for France. "The ad you’re referencing is one of a series of ads called "Come as You Are," which recognized he diversity of McDonald’s customers in France. This particular commercial was produced by McDonald’s France and is running only in France," Howards said in the statement. "Each of our 117 markets around the world determines their own advertising and marketing."

15 October 2010 – MSM Globel Forum

10
Paris hosts first international conference of Muslim gay associations

by Par Cédric Douzant lundi Article Date: 11 Oct, 2010
«Il est possible d’être un bon musulman tout en étant homosexuel». L’affirmation revient souvent dans les paroles de l’imam Moulana Muhsin Hendricks (ci-dessus, à gauche), le seul imam au monde avec Daayiee Abdullah (à droite) à assumer publiquement son homosexualité. Samedi, ils étaient tous les deux à Paris, sous haute protection policière, pour participer à la première conférence internationale des associations homos musulmanes, Calem (Conférence des associations LGBT européennes et musulmanes).

«L’Islam est souvent mal perçu par les LGBT»
«Etre un bon musulman signifie être en paix dans son cœur et son âme, explique Daayiee Abdullah, imam à Washington. Il faut atteindre le point où deux pôles de sa vie, sa foi et sa sexualité, sont réconciliés. Et mon étude personnelle du Coran m’a montré que c’était possible.» Pour les deux religieux, rien dans le Coran ne condamne l’homosexualité et ceux qui le font en son nom se trompent d’interprétation. Pourtant, ils confient que «la communauté musulmane n’est pas forcément prête à accepter les différences» et qu’en retour, «l’Islam est souvent mal perçu par la communauté LGBT».

Pour «jeter des ponts entre les communautés» et donner «le droit d’être gay et musulman», l’imam Hendricks a créé il y a 13 ans en Afrique du Sud The Inner Circle, la seule association d’envergure internationale d’homos musulmans. Sa mission: «lutter contre l’intériorisation de l’homophobie qui conduit au suicide certains musulmans homos et contre les mariages forcés et la pression sociale qui pousse des homos à mener une double vie».

15 octobre 2010 – TETU

11
Les homos musulmans et deux imams gays rassemblés à Paris

par Cédric Douzant lundi
Samedi, des militants homos musulmans du monde entier se sont retrouvés à Paris. Les deux seuls imams ouvertement gays au monde étaient présents pour délivrer leur message: être homo et musulman est possible. D’autres militants maghrébins ont fait le récit de leur clandestinité.

«Il est possible d’être un bon musulman tout en étant homosexuel». L’affirmation revient souvent dans les paroles de l’imam Moulana Muhsin Hendricks (ci-dessus, à gauche), le seul imam au monde avec Daayiee Abdullah (à droite) à assumer publiquement son homosexualité. Samedi, ils étaient tous les deux à Paris, sous haute protection policière, pour participer à la première conférence internationale des associations homos musulmanes, Calem (Conférence des associations LGBT européennes et musulmanes).

Peine de mort
Son action est ainsi devenue un modèle pour les autres associations d’homos musulmans. Samedi, elles étaient une dizaine à s’être retrouvées pour échanger leurs expériences. Parmi elles, plusieurs associations européennes dont HM2F, (Homos musulmans de France), organisatrice de la rencontre. «Etre homo et musulman est pour nous une réalité, mais beaucoup de questions se posent pour concilier au mieux notre sexualité et notre foi, explique l’association. C’est pour ça que nous avons besoin d’un espace de partage et d’accueil. Nous devons également être organisés pour faire valoir nos droits auprès des Etats et auprès de la communauté musulmane.»

Pour d’autres associations, faire valoir ses droits est une question de survie, militer pour la cause LGBT une action qui peut valoir la prison. Une dizaine de militants sont ainsi venus du Maghreb et du Moyen-Orient, conscients qu’être identifiés comme homos leur interdirait un retour dans leur pays. A tour de rôle, ils ont évoqué la clandestinité, les menaces de groupes extrémistes, les lois condamnant, parfois à la peine de mort, l’homosexualité. «Nous n’avons pas le droit de nous organiser en association, raconte un jeune militant algérien. La meilleure porte d’entrée pour militer est d’adhérer aux associations de lutte contre le VIH. Nous essayons également de créer un réseau sur Internet, l’espace le moins risqué pour les homos. En Algérie, l’homosexualité est un crime, toujours présentée comme un vice venant de l’étranger. Nous voulons revendiquer à la fois notre homosexualité et notre identité algérienne.»

«Un jour, les pays musulmans accepteront les homos»
Des associations LGBT ont récemment vu le jour dans la plupart des pays du Maghreb. Pour tenter d’assurer leur sécurité, elles ont crée un réseau informel d’entraide mais la peur de la répression hante tous les esprits. «Je pense que le gouvernement connaît notre existence, explique un militant marocain. Pour l’instant, les autorités ont gardé un silence total, c’est presque une réponse positive.»

La lutte dans ces pays représente le défi le plus important aux yeux de Moulana Muhsin Hendricks. Il est sûr «qu’un jour, tous les pays musulmans accepteront les homos», avant de freiner son optimisme: «Mais ça prendra du temps, je ne sais pas si je serai encore en vie pour le voir.»

November 18, 2010 – Tetu Magazine
Google French to English translation

11a
Free guide to information about HIV, is on newsstands

The seventh edition of the Guide TÊTU + is available on newsstands since Wednesday. It was expected, here it is! Intended for all those interested in AIDS in its medical aspects, social activists and the Guide TÊTU + is a veritable mine of info about stigma

Responses are also frequently made to the legal issues raised. The work of ten associations in France and abroad, is highlighted. For the first time, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, Nobel Prize, has agreed to be a columnist Guide, with text that highlights the need to continue the fight. The nutritionist Jean-Michel Cohen has devised eight pages of nutrition advice tailored and exclusive. Women and transgender people are not forgotten.

The Guide + TÊTU also interviewed ten people with HIV, 22 to 64 years. All agreed to speak openly, for refusing stigma.

December 28, 2010 – Tetu Magazine
Google French to English translation

11b
"I’d rather go to jail in France than return to Morocco"

by Mathieu Bouthier
Moroccan, gay, age 25, it is within the scope since Wednesday in an order of deportation. Homosexual, he left his country and live fully in France this sexuality in Morocco can lead to prison. Justice must decide today. For his lawyer Uldrif Astié, "Karim will be even more impoverished, marginalized, ostracized. By his family including his father, who is an imam in that society.

Karim’s testimony is instructive, an example of the difficulty of being gay in a country where homosexuality remains a crime punishable by three years in prison. He arrived in France in 2003 through a tourist visa and joined his sister in Paris. He ekes out a living, doing odd jobs, markets, sleeping here and there. When he lived in Morocco it was already a homosexual problem, "I was complexed, I was abused … My family resented my sexual preferences. My father is an Imam …" That does not make things easier. "I’d rather go to jail in France and return to Morocco …" he admits.

Yet Karim wants to get out. In France he last saw his sexuality more calmly, dressed, his hair like any young gay man who loves fashion and does not hide … It comes down to Marseille, accounting forms and got a job. This is where things derailed: his employer promised him help in his efforts to win an administrative regulation by the work. He lied. His boss puts an end to its CSD.

Then Karim takes a train and landed randomly in Bordeaux. There he meets a companion who knows nothing about his situation. Voluntary, feeling in his right, he decided Tuesday, December 21 to file a complaint at police headquarters in Bordeaux against his employer. He accepted the opportunity to give his passport to the officer who receives it. The next day, instead of starting with the title expected to stay against his passport, he is presented with an order of deportation.

Impossible Situation
"It’s just impossible," says Master Uldrif Astié. The lawyer appealed to the Administrative Court recalls that in Morocco, because of his homosexuality "Karim will be even more impoverished, marginalized, ostracized. By his family and society. Here, Karim is integrated, there he faces prison. Since Morocco’s independence in 1956, thousands of homosexuals were jailed. "?

Tuesday, December 28, a hearing is scheduled tribunal that will rule on the validity of the stop. The goal is to have the court consider the material developed and show a manifest error of assessment of the situation by the Prefect.

4 January 2011 – Unzipped: Gay Armenia

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Armenia: Homophobia Hall of Shame

Serge Avedikian: ‘I never rejected my homosexual experiences as a youngster, and never thought of them to be within the confines of normality or abnormality’ As I mentioned in my earlier post, Serge Avedikian – French Armenian director, actor, writer and producer – made an unforgettable mark on the history of world gay cinema by playing in a very different wartime love story – Nous étions un seul homme (We Were One Man), film by renown French director Philippe Vallois in 1979. [Read “Modern gay classic” French Armenian Serge Avedikian won Palme d’Or 2010 at Cannes]. Serge was recently in Yerevan to participate in Golden Apricot international film festival.

This exclusive interview was first published in October 2004 on the website of the former Armenian gay rights group in France – www.agla.info (no longer exists). Thanks to Micha Meroujean, head of then AGLA France, I can now post it, with accompanied pictures, on Unzipped: Gay Armenia.

This extract – from the original interview in French – was translated using Google Translate. I only slightly edited it

Read article

January 4, 2011 – Tetu Magazine
Google French to English translation

13
French Gays Seeking Friendly Retirement Homes – It is a problem that will inevitably become more pressing: the lack of nursing homes made aware of the gay and lesbian.

by Jacques Guillon
Homosexuals have beautiful French knock on every door, they are always looking for the first retirement home for gay friendly in France as there are many in the United States and in Germany, the Netherlands or Belgium. "The generation of homosexuals entering the age of retirement is the first ever live during his life, his homosexuality in an open and she heard no change in attitude by stopping work," argues Philip Coupe, president of the association Other circle Ile-de-France.

2 million LGBT pensioners in 10 years
In ten years, France will have 20 million pensioners, including 8-9% of homosexuals, or between 1.5 to 2 million people, according to estimates by the Inter-LGBT. There are approximately 10,000 nursing homes in France. "Nobody has addressed this issue in France retire," says Coupe, noting the difference with the tourism sector which had reserved a space for example gay and lesbian at the World Tourism (MAP) in Paris in March last.

No response

"It was so much sought, especially in the Ile-de-France, wrote to trade associations retirement home, the FNADEPA (National Federation of principals and services for the elderly) and the AD-PA (Association of Directors serving the elderly) and there has been no response, "complains Mr Coupe. "We do not want to retreat houses reserved solely to the gay community as it exists in America – although we are not opposed to this concept – but it wants a personal awareness of the fact that people of the same sex share same room, that are aware of health issues affecting gay men in particular, like AIDS," says the official.

Ghetto Extra
Questioned by AFP, the Director of Franchise FNADEPA Toursiere answered "do not know of nursing home ad hoc" and wondered if "we must create an additional ghetto."

In the AD-PA, Pascal Champvert explains: "We fight daily against the age discrimination and we are naturally sensitive to homophobia. We often remind our staff and our residents in Article 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which condemns all forms of discrimination by age, racism, homophobia, disability. " He acknowledged not having replied to the letter of the other circle, but said he was "ready to meet them."

General Councils
The spokesman of the Inter LGBT (which includes 60 associations), Nicolas Gougain, means "educate the candidates on this issue in the upcoming district elections." "The councils manage nursing homes, we must educate elected to the problem of equality to be thinking during all stages of life," he said.

30 January 2011 – The Independent

14
Gay marriage ruling spoils le Coming-Out party – Activists say French Constitutional Court verdict shows country is out of date and out of touch

by Jamey Keaten in Paris
The Mayor of Paris is openly gay. Personalities such as the long-time lover of late fashion guru Yves Saint Laurent play high-profile roles in French society. French gay rights groups are as vocal as they come. But the country whose motto is Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité hasn’t given the love and commitment of same-sex couples equal legal standing to that of heterosexuals.

An ongoing debate over the issue is gathering steam. A trigger point came on Friday when the Constitutional Court ruled that laws banning gay marriage do not violate the constitution. They said any change was for parliament to decide. Supporters of same-sex marriage say France is behind the curve of societal change, and playing catch-up with other European nations that have already legalised it. Same-sex couples in France can form civil unions, but these do not confer inheritance rights or joint custody of goods, among other things.

In its decision, the council noted that lawmakers had agreed that the "difference in situations of same-sex couples and couples made up of a man and a woman can justify a difference in treatment concerning family rights." The ruling puts the issue at the doorstep of the unpopular President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of presidential and legislative elections next year. A poll released last week shows growing public support for the idea of gay marriage – and the left-wing opposition immediately pounced.

The appeal to the council was brought by Corinne Cestino and Sophie Hasslauer, who have lived together for 15 years, have four children, and want the right to marry. They challenged the constitutionality of the civil code’s stipulation that marriage must be between a man and a woman. Ms Cestino, speaking on France-Info radio, acknowledged the ruling was "a big disappointment". "French society is ready [for gay marriage]," she said. "The block rests with the politicians." Polls suggest she is right. A recent one by Canal Plus TV found 58 per cent of respondents believed gays should be able to marry – a double-digit percentage point increase from a poll five years ago – while 35 per cent believe they should not.

The Communist Party criticised the ruling, saying: "France has retained its dunce’s cap over the right for people of the same sex to marry, when many other European countries remedied this inequality a long time ago." Some countered that legal tradition in France was being upheld. "We can only hail this decision, which respects our political-judicial tradition," said Christine Boutin, head of the small Christian-Democratic Party. "The right to marry for homosexual couples would only be the first step before adoption follows."

Gay rights groups say "le Coming-Out" is making progress, crediting improving media coverage and role models such as Mayor Bertrand Delanoë of Paris, who came out publicly years ago. Pierre Bergé, the long-time partner of Yves Saint Laurent, cultivates a high profile as a philanthropist and recently became a co-owner of the top-drawer daily Le Monde. But coming out is always "a personal decision," said Stéphane Corbin, a spokesman for the advocacy group Fédération LGBT. Even Ms Boutin, long a bête noire for gay rights groups, has "eased up" on her position with regard to homosexuality over the years, Mr Corbin said. Gone are the days during the social upheaval of 1968, when gays in France opposed marriage as a "bourgeois" institution – now they simply want to enjoy the same rights as everybody else, he said.

27 April 2011 – PinkNews

15
Last known gay holocaust survivor to receive France’s top honour

by Christopher Brocklebank
The last known gay survivor of the Nazi holocaust is to receive the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur. Rudolf Brazda, 97, who spent three years in Buchenwald concentration camp, was recommended for the honour by President Sarkozy. News of his award came 66 years to the day he left the camp, in 1945.

Philippe Couillet, president of Les Oublié(e)s de la Mémoire (an association campaigning for recognition of the suffering of gay people once imprisoned by the Nazis), said the award marked “a further step in the recognition of the deportation of homosexuals” and was a deserved reward for the bravery Mr Brazda had displayed in speaking publicly about his experience.

Author Alexander Zinn has documented Mr Brazda’s life in a new book titled Das Glück Kam Immer zu Mir (Happiness Always Came to Me). In addition, Mr Zinn has gathered material for a documentary which he hopes will be screened this year, which includes interviews with Mr Brazda and his return to Buchenwald. It was after the unveiling of the Berlin monument to gay and lesbian holocaust victims that Mr Brazda came forward to tell his story. He has previously received the gold medals of the cities of Toulouse and Nancy.

Writing on his LGBT Asylum News blog, Paul Canning said: “In spite of his old age, and health permitting, Brazda is determined to continue speaking out about his past, in the hope that younger generations remain vigilant in the face of present day behaviour and thoughts similar to those which led to the persecutions endured by homosexuals during the Nazi era.” Mr Brazda will receive his award tomorrow at College Puteaux in Hauts-de-Seine. He will give a speech and the honour will be presented to him by Marie-José of Chombart Lauwe, a former resistance fighter who was an inmate at Ravensbrück, the notorious women’s work camp. She is now president of The Foundation for the Memory of the Deportation.

14 June 2011 – PinkNews

16
French parliament rejects gay marriage bill

by Jessica Geen
The French parliament has rejected a bill designed to give gay couples the right to marry. Today, lawmakers voted by 293 votes to 222 to block the bill, which was not expected to pass. In January, the country’s constitutional court upheld the ban on gay marriage after a challenge from a lesbian couple. Corinne Cestino and Sophie Hasslauer, who have lived together for 15 years and have four children, asked for the right to marry but were turned down by the Constitutional Council.

The court ruled that the ban did not breach the French constitution and said it was up to parliament whether to change the law. France has had PACS since 1999. The civil unions are available to straight and gay couples but do not give all the rights of marriage. A survey published on the day of the court verdict by TNS Sofres showed that 58 per cent of 950 respondents were in favour of gay marriage and 35 per cent were against.

In 2006, the same agency found that only 45 per cent of respondents agreed with giving gay couples the right to marry. Seven European states – Norway, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden and Iceland – allow gay couples to marry. Others, such as the UK and Germany, allow civil partnerships or unions.

2011 July – PubMed.gov

17
Coming Out à l’oriental: Maghrebi-French Performances of Gender, Sexuality, and Religion.

by Provencher DM. – a Department of Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication , The University of Maryland Baltimore County , Baltimore , Maryland , USA.

Abstract
In this article, I examine issues of gender, sexuality, and religion for North African (Maghrebi)-French men in contemporary France. I introduce performance artist-photographer "2Fik," one of the Maghrebi-French research subjects from my 2010 fieldwork, and examine excerpts of his particular coming out story to his parents and situate it in relation to recent work on homosexuality in the housing projects of France’s banlieues [suburban neighborhoods] ( Chaumont, 2009 ; Naït-Balk, 2009 ). The interviewee’s narrative interweaves a variety of discourses and imagery that help distinguish his experience from those found in those publications as well as in recent scholarship on sexuality, citizenship, and transnationalism ( Cruz-Malavé & Manalansan, 2000 ; Hayes, 2000 ; Leap & Boellstorff, 2004 ; Patton & Sánchez-Eppler, 2000 ; Provencher, 2007a ).

I argue that 2Fik’s story and photography provide him a unique voice that draws on feminist and queer perspectives-informed by both reformed Islam and contemporary Western values-to "decline" ( Rosello, 1998 ) and rewrite longstanding stereotypes of Islam in France. In fact, by acting as a "citizen-photographer" ( Möller, 2010 ), 2Fik successfully declines stereotypes including the absent Muslim father, the veiled woman, and the symbolic violence associated with heteronormativity and traditional masculinity in Maghrebi-French families.

August 04, 2011 – On Top Magazine

18
Rudolf Brazda, Last Gay Nazi Death Camp Survivor, Dies At 98

by On Top Magazine Staff
Rudolf Brazda, the last known gay Nazi death camp survivor, died at 98 in France on Wednesday, the AFP reported. Brazda died at a hospital in Bantzenheim, France in his sleep, Philippe Couillet, a friend and associate of Brazda, told the European news service. At the age of 29, Brazda was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp in August 1942. He remained in the camp until 1945, when the camp was liberated by allied troops.

Being gay was a crime under Nazi Germany’s laws, and tens of thousands of people were convicted and sent to concentration camps. Prisoners had to wear a downward-pointing pink triangle on their jackets that identified them as gay or lesbian. The pink triangle – which was originally intended as a badge of shame – has since been turned upside down and reclaimed as a symbol of gay pride.

Brazda moved to Alsace after the war and lived there the remainder of his life. His partner of over 30 years, Edi, died in 2003. In April, the French government awarded Brazda the Legion of Honor. He is expected to be buried next Monday in Mulhouse, France.

November 12, 2011 – Reuters

19
French gay "wedding" reopens debate ahead of election

Toulouse, France (Reuters) – The mayor of a small French town challenged the country’s ban on same-sex marriage by presiding over the wedding of two men on Saturday, reviving the debate on gay marriage as France’s presidential election campaign heats up. The move drew a swift rebuke from a junior minister in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government who described it as an "electoral provocation."

Jean Vila, the mayor of the town of Cabestany, wore his tricolore sash as he presided over the wedding of Patrick, 48 and Guillaume, 37, and said afterward that he did so as a "militant act." "To outlaw homosexual marriage is to deny the reality of thousands of homosexual couples," he said after the ceremony in the city hall of the town about 40 km (25 miles) from the Spanish border. "This decision to join these two people for me is an act of anger and revolt in the face of the authorities’ refusal to legitimise such unions," he added.

Vila declined to enter the marriage in the official registry, however, to avoid it getting annulled as happened with two men who were married in 2004. A handful of countries in Europe allow couples of the same sex to wed, but France only allows civil unions, a status which confers fewer rights than marriage proper. France’s constitutional authority in January upheld the country’s ban on gay weddings and in June parliament rejected an opposition Socialist Party bill attempting to legalize them.

Claude Greff, Sarkozy’s junior cabinet minister for family, said the ceremony was a "provocation on the eve of the presidential election," referring to the 2012 contest between Sarkozy and Socialist rival Francois Hollande, who leads in polls. "It’s unacceptable to use the powers vested in a public official to violate the law," Greff said in a statement. Recent polls have shown rising public support for gay marriage, once firmly opposed by a majority of the French public.

(Reporting By Nicolas Fichot; Writing by Christian Plumb; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Gay France News and Reports 2009-11

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