Versailles: "In the city there are a lot of assaults against homosexuals" ... LGBT + people educate on the market

“You are traitors, you will be hanged in the public square.

This attack launched by an elderly lady at the LGBT + collective in Versailles is no longer even shocking.

This Sunday in the market place, two posters of the campaign against homophobia led by Public Health France were deployed in the middle of the crowd.

“Our goal is to create dialogue,” explains Jacky, a member of the group.

There is a very conservative spirit at Versailles.

We want to defend the right to be and to love whoever we want.

"

"Yes, my daughter is a lesbian", "Yes, my friend is gay", can we read in particular on these panels. What annoy more than one. "It's ridiculous, why we advertise for that", annoys Catherine, sixty. "It's victimization, it annoys me," adds her husband André. Personally, it shocks me that the State is taking sides! Some are so virulent that insults are heard. "I'm not talking to you, I'm telling you to get out and go to Trappes to do your bullshit!" A white-haired man blurted out.

These behaviors come as no surprise to anyone in Versailles. Even the municipal police are ready to intervene, aware that the situation can quickly degenerate. A conservative climate that exasperates the members of the LGBT + collective. “This is where the Manif pour tous was created,” recalls Frédéric. In the city there are flags everywhere, and also a lot of attacks on homosexuals. "

The phenomenon is such that three people involved in local politics, including an opposition municipal councilor, wrote to the mayor (DVD) of Versailles at the end of May to ask him to remove the posters of this national campaign, however recognized as being of general interest. “I didn't get an answer but I said what I had to say,” explains Céline Jullié, far-right municipal councilor. What shocks me is that we are using public money for a community. When we have children who see the posters, we find ourselves having to tackle subjects in times that we have not chosen. It is a state control of thought and it is dangerous. People whether I like it or not it's up to me! "

Place du marché (Versailles), June 13, 2021. The posters quickly appealed to passers-by, forging dialogues that are sometimes benevolent, sometimes aggressive.

Julie menard

The two other senders of this request are François Billot de Lochner and Constance Prazel, respectively president and general delegate of the association Liberté politique, the vocation of which is to "carry the word of Christians in the great debates of society".

He was also a candidate (DVD) in the legislative elections of 2017. If the mayor François de Mazières did not respond to their email, the posters fighting against homophobia were not withdrawn.

"Fed up with these ultra-conservatives who speak out but do not represent the majority of Versaillais"

Still, this silence disturbs Didier Baichère, deputy (LREM) of the 2nd district of Versailles and present this Sunday during the discussions. “I am scandalized, it is also reprehensible to ask this kind of thing than not to answer it, thundered the parliamentarian. Fed up with these ultra-conservatives who speak out but do not represent the majority of Versaillais. "

A position shared by a few regulars in the market. "No, but it's unbearable," Sylvie, 53, gets angry. It's just not possible for us to be associated with these people who write to the mayor ”. Nicole, she was not always of this opinion. But at 72, his point of view has changed. “Homosexuality is something that bothered me but the fact that I was told about it, that I knew people concerned, it made me change my mind. It is not normal that people suffer from this kind of intolerance. "

Messages of support that moved the members of the LGBT + collective.

“We must stop talking about homosexuals as a community, points out Mickael, 28 years old.

It's the kind of thing that makes you think you're different from others when homosexuality is common.

"And Melio, 22, concluded:" These posters may not seem like much but it can help young people who have suicidal thoughts.

Those who do not want it give a bad image of Versailles.

We are all the same: citizens.

"

To read also PMA for all: "It is neither a whim nor a whim"