It was with a solemn voice that James Leperlier, president of Inter-LGBT, began the traditional opening speech of Pride. “Today we march to make history”he said, looking serious. For forty-five minutes, many associations followed him to express their fear, one day before the first round of the legislative elections, of a sharp decline in LGBT+ rights if the National Rally (RN) came to power.
The call to block the far right had been announced for several days by Inter-LGBT, a federation of around sixty associations that has been organizing Pride for nearly twenty-five years. Throughout the procession, calls to vote were strongly relayed, while between the floats and the multi-colored flags, the placards with political messages – sometimes humorous, “No to bardella, yes to fellatio”sometimes serious, “Foreign HIV-positive people, the RN prefers you dead” – were multiplying.
The main concern is the decline in the rights of transgender people, while threats have increased in recent months. Last May, the Republicans introduced a bill, supported by the RN, aimed at prohibiting the prescription of hormonal treatments and gender reassignment surgery to transgender minors. More recently, it was the President of the Republic himself who drew the wrath of LGBT+ associations by calling “completely absurd” the desire of the New Popular Front to facilitate the change of gender in civil status. In response, the slogan of the March this year echoed this: “Against transphobia, transsolidarity!”.
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“The context is particular, it’s scary”, testifies Timaël Elbe, 17-year-old transgender teenager encountered at the demonstration. The high school student, with blue hair on one side and pink on the other, like the colors of the transgender flag, came out during the year. He does not understand the desire of the right and the far right to restrict access to gender transition. “It doesn’t impact them and it’s none of their business.”he said, disarmed. If the RN comes to power, the teenager fears he will not be able to transition for years to come: “Depending on what happens during these elections, my life path could be completely turned upside down”he is alarmed.
A concern shared by Iris, (she prefers not to give her name), a 21-year-old transgender student. In his hands, a sign calling for the protection of transgender children. She claims to have “extremely afraid” of the impact that this ban could have on the “already more fragile mental health of trans people”. For Iris, the proposed law makes no sense: “Why would hormone injections only be allowed for cisgender people?”.
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