"A sad discovery". On Sunday, the people in charge of the LGBT + 66 Center in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), discovered their premises covered with hostile tags: the terms "lesbians", "gays" and "trans" were crossed out, as well as the logo of the place. A Celtic cross was also drawn and the words "pas de vos propa" (for propaganda), were written, reveals The Independent.
On Facebook, the center laments the "sad discovery" of "this hatred and rejection on the part of people unable to live together."
Contacted by Le Parisien, Guy Gaultier, co-president of the center, said he had so far filed a pre-complaint and warned the authorities of the situation. For him, the attack is signed by the far right, the Celtic cross being the symbol of some groups claimed to be far right.
"We are not afraid"
This is not the first time that the centre has suffered damage. "We have already had the screen printing torn off, the mailbox torn off," he explains, noting that he has previously filed a complaint for the deterioration of the mailbox.
In 2021, the president of the association Jean-Loup Thévenot had already told Têtu that a homophobic letter had been sent to several partners of the center, denouncing, among other things, the "sexual-pornographic communitarianism (sic) financed by the work of our taxes".
But Guy Gaultier assures him: "We are not afraid, they are the ones who are afraid." He explains that he actually has "a lot of sadness for these people" who prefer violence to dialogue. The center, which holds permanence on Wednesdays and Saturdays, will open the day after tomorrow as planned, he assures. "We continue, we will not give in, we are here," says Guy Gaultier.
In mid-May, SOS Homophobie deplored in a report the hatred against LGBT people in French society, alarmed by a "worrying" evolution of physical attacks (+ 28% between 2021 and 2022) against them.
