"Boy, girl, non-binary. We have all the configurations in college. The sentence is questioning, but the schoolgirl pronounces it without batting an eyelid. One hour before the performance of four sketches, with puppets on different types of parenting, the 28 students of a 4th grade class of the Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie college, in Fontenay-sous-Bois, rehearse hard in the hall of the Halle Roublot.
Halfway through, the apprentice actors found themselves with a spectator of choice, the Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, visiting their establishment on May 17, as part of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. On this occasion, he launched an awareness campaign in middle and high schools, bearing the message "Here you can be yourself". And this, while the country was upset in January by the suicide of little Lucas, 13 years old, victim of mockery and insults of a homophobic nature.
A work that "makes you think", according to Keydee
"A hundred people, family members, friends will come to see this work," says Alaïs Barkate, their French teacher. Since the beginning of the year, they have been working on the acceptance of the sexuality of the other, dealt with homosexuality, homoparentality...
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"At first it was complicated," Felicia does not hide. Keydee agrees, adding, "We used to make a lot of jokes in the yard but it makes us think and it allows us to trivialize things."
Sacha (the name has been changed) does not assume to speak with his face uncovered and admits to himself "happy, because my parents can not come! he said nervously. That's what we do because we never have these kinds of discussions at home. »
Homophobic remarks down in court
"It took time to break stereotypes, to remind people that homophobia is not an opinion but a crime like racism," recalls the teacher who worked with the senior education advisor. Besides, we have less homophobic remarks in the court. »
After studying, the students reappropriated texts, wrote poetry using each letter of the surname as the starting point of the verse. We find the strength of the family, the one we choose for ourselves, with friendship, acceptance of others with their religion, their sexuality, their skin colors. Above all, they worked these four scenes with puppets, and the support of Mombeard's company, to talk about bullying at school, a couple who separates and a mother who rebuilds her life with her wife... All with music, light effects...
"Offer your gaze, look at the audience, do you all know your text?" asks a member of the company, before the curtain opens. Relatives are stomping impatiently. "It's just very good because they need it," says Ouafae, who came to see his niece. A cousin from Morocco left the country to settle here because he was gay. And there, his neighbors harass him. It drives me crazy. »
