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| Anti gay marriage demonstrators |
Anyway, the gay marriage bill will be voted today so let's hope that things will calm down a bit after that, but the anti-gay movement is planning to form its own political party so we haven't seen the last of them unfortunately.
Centrist eurodeputy Jean-Luc Bannahmias summed up the months long 'debate' perfectly yesterday when he said he was fed up with the 'deleterious climate' that reigns in France right now as a result of this issue, and he went on to say that it has left "a worrying whiff of 'work-family-motherland" in France.
He's right, as was confirmed by an article headlined 'The atmosphere in Lyon recently has been frightening' in my local paper which mentioned that the movement's lovey-dovey 'heterosexual family' logo is now being replaced by the French national flag. It adds that gay-marriage related chants by demonstrators have been replaced by others, such as "France is for the French" and "this is our country [and nobody else's]".This is true, as I have seen and heard for myself, and it's all getting rather hateful.
And as the photo above shows, the demonstations are taking on a more nationalistic tone. Pure white French girls dressed as Marianne, who is a symbol of the triumph of the French Republic. That and the new France-for-the-French chants and the notion of 'work-family-motherland' are disturbing signs of something.
Ah yes! So THAT'S what the photo above reminded me of. How silly of me not to have realised earlier. The people in that photograph remind me of those in the photo below.
Worrying? You bet.
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| Members of the League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel), the female section of the Hitler Youth |
You are right – these women wearing le bonnet phrygien, symbol of the French Revolution, should be ashamed – I am ashamed watching them. France is supposed to be the country of freedom and égalité but it has a large segment now which is like in the US - homophobic superconservative and bigoted – like the Tea Party. I read that Paris was overwhelmingly for the law and that many of these demonstrators were bused from the provinces – don’t know if it’s correct as I read it on a paper here. Just like here, unfortunately, there have always been people in France who do not like others who are not like themselves – I know because my maiden name was not French and hard to pronounce. I am pleased that the law was passed but, like you, I am worried about the future – don’t they remember anything?
ReplyDeleteI have been reading more on this subject and found that the US based National Organization for Marriage gave a lot of money to French anti-gay groups. Brian Brown, the president of NOM even went to France and worked on a series of offensive editorial cartoons in French newspaper. However, it has not been much publicized, it is said here, that a coalition of anti-gay US groups were backing the French homophobes. Have you heard about this? I am not surprised as these US groups have worked hard against gay rights in Africa also and other parts of the world and they have plenty of money.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this comment, it's full of good info and pertinent observation. If you google 'tea party manif pour tous' you'll see a stack of references to articles in the French press which say exactly that. And indeed you are right about American support. Also, the fascist groups here in Lyon (there are more of them here than anywhere else in France except Paris unfortunately, notably in the St Jean quarter) have attacked gays and foreigners and they are known to have links to their German counterparts. Ugly stuff. Google 'fascistes st jean' for more.
DeleteChilling. Anything with the whiff of the Third Reich is chilling. What also is chilling is that I live in the United States, and I have not read of the link between anti-gay American groups and like French groups.
ReplyDelete"Chilling". Exactly. All this has led several good journalists here to state what everybody nows but daren't say. France is, essentially, a highly conservative country, and now that the rest of the world is moving onwards it is becoming evident. Let's hope all this serves as a 'leçon salutaire...'
DeleteCan someone please explain to me why the american NOM (National Organization for Marriage) would be involved with the anti-gay movement in France? Could it have any relations with more and more evangelical churches opening in France? I think the anti-gay movement is a cover up for something else.
ReplyDeleteI don't precisely why the NOM is fraternising with the French movement, but I do know that Catholic integrists have been involved in the Manif Pour Tous. Yup, religious extremism is definitely implicated in this issue, an issue which is attracting more and more self-declared fascist organisations too. Yuk, highly toxic stuff....
ReplyDeleteNOM is very closely associated with Catholic socially conservative organisations. Their line of reasoning tacks closely to the doctrine of Natural Law. They are very interested in taking their campaign to other countries and appear to have set up an umbrella body, the International Organisation for Marriage.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for that information Neilogue. I'm going to find out more about this issue....
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