“Whether at the RN or at Reconqueste, the red line is the type”

On the eve of the legislative elections, Pride 2024 integrates the fight against the far right into its traditional slogans, including solidarity with trans people. Because the RN represents a more or less veiled threat, explains historian Mickaël Studnicki.

LPride 2024 will not be like the previous ones. “It will be the moment for all LGBTQI+ people to say that we do not want the National Rally” stated on June 19 at Release James Leperlier, president of Inter-LGBT, which is organizing it. On the eve of the first round of early legislative elections, participants will march on June 29th ” against transphobia and the extreme right “. What is the threat to LGBTQI+ rights from the political far right? Answers with Mickaël Studnicki, historian and author of a thesis on the nationalist rights, gender and homosexualities from 1870 to the present day, to be published soon in Sorbonne Press.

Will the 2024 Pride March be particularly political?
This event has always been political, since its beginnings in the 1970s, particularly in the 1990s, and marked clearly on the left. That said, a Pride on the eve of a first round of elections is unprecedented. The situation that comes closest to it dates back to 1997, just after the legislative elections that had been provoked by the dissolution of the National Assembly by Jacques Chirac. The aim at that time, for the activists, was to put pressure on Lionel Jospin who had committed to the legalization of civil unions, the ancestor of the Pacs.

Do LGBT rights associations have good reason to fear the potential arrival to power of the RN?
Clearly, the RN is not a pro-LGBTQI party+. I have never found a position in this direction in my work. But its executives no longer display openly homophobic positions Since the arrival of Marine Le Pen at its head, in 2011. Two explanatory factors: the Perben law of 2004, which penalizes homophobia, and the acceptance of homosexuality in all levels of society, particularly among young people. Abject news stories sometimes obviously persist, but over time, we can say that homophobia is in decline. With this in mind, it is not electorally profitable for a party to have homophobic positions.

How has the RN evolved on these subjects?
It evolved in parallel with society, particularly after 2011. Marine Le Pen began a very active normalization: first by excluding people for making homophobic comments in public [Catherine Blein, par exemple, conseillère régionale Front national de Bretagne, a été exclue du FN en 2017 pour des propos homophobes et racistes – elle a depuis été condamnée pour apologie du terrorisme, ndlr]. Added to this was the role of Sébastien Chenu, from the sovereignist right and one of the founders of Gaylib, an association for the defense of LGBTQI rights+ liberal, long affiliated with the UMP. Supporter of Marriage for All, he is now vice-president of the RN. He is not the only openly homosexual person in a position of responsibility in the party; there are also, for example, Jean-Philippe Tanguy (member of the board) and Thomas Ménagé (spokesperson).

Very homophobic remarks made by the far right are today more widely disseminated on social networks by groups and media not officially affiliated with parties, such as Equality and Reconciliation, F de Strain or Rivarol. Who also do not fail to seize news items to make the link between homophobia and Islam, or to spread transphobic rumors like those concerning Brigitte Macron…

Is the RN therefore not no longer a threat to LGBTQI people+ ?
The fear of LGBTQI rights associations+ is that if it comes to power, the RN will adopt the strategy of the Dutch far-right populist movements, which consists of pretending to fight for LGBTQI+ rights by adopting anti-Islam measures. It is true that there are many nods to the LGBTQI+ community: an FN list with several gay and lesbian candidates in the Parisian municipal elections in 2014, the coming out of Thomas Ménagé in January 2024, or Jordan Bardella’s tirade against homophobia (allegedly caused by immigration) in the debate on June 27 in the evening on France 2… The RN seeks to have an almost gay-friendly official line: if you are homosexual, no problem as long as you are discreet, do not engage in activism and remain virile. And indeed there are LGBTQI+ people among RN supporters. That said, this smoothing of the surface does not convince everyone within the party itself, where there remains a line that can be described as “national-Catholic”, represented by people like Bruno Gollnisch or Caroline Parmentier (outgoing MP for Pas-de-Calais) who castigated the entry of Sébastien Chenu into the FN and has often shared homophobic opinions.

It is more likely that the RN will take an Italian turn, à la Giorgia Meloni, than a Dutch one.

What about transgender identity, the theme of Pride 2024?
For many, whether at the RN or at Reconquête, the red line is gender. The problem for nationalist movements is that questions of gender identity break the traditional vision of masculine and feminine. It is mainly Reconquête that seizes on it, so it is interesting to observe Marion Maréchal return to the family fold, while she is openly hostile to the advances of LGBTQI+ rights. How will she coexist with the normalization of the RN?

What would happen to LGBT rights if the RN came to power?
I think it is more likely that the RN will take an Italian turn, à la Giorgia Meloni, than Dutch. He would not vote for restrictive laws on LGBTQI+ rights, but rather for family support measures, which would in fact complicate access to PMA for homosexual couples, for example. There could also be reductions in subsidies to LGBTQI+ associations. We often talk about the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1982 but it is more subtle: the repression of homosexuals involved a whole series of discrimination and surveillance practices which were not necessarily enshrined in the law. I can’t imagine the RN taking an illiberal turn like Viktor Orban [Premier ministre hongrois, qui a adopté de nombreuses mesures d’atteintes aux droits LGBTQI+] especially since, basically, these are not at all priority subjects for the RN and it expresses itself very little on it, except in reaction to controversies. It would be interesting to confront the party with its contradictions: what would Caroline Parmentier say if we asked her about her position as a deputy and member of the RN office on subjects like PMA or even transidentity?