Why are the french so gay
The French men convicted for being gay: 'I'm going to tell you about my queer life'
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Long Read'The underground years' (1/5). In 1982, France repealed 'offense of homosexuality,' which discriminated against gay men. In a five-part series, Le Monde looks back on a time when queer people in France were treated as pariahs. Bernard Bousset was one of the victims of this repression.
There are two letters on the doorbell: BB. You have to listen carefully to Bernard Bousset's account of his "eventful" life to perceive the personal interpretation behind the option of these initials. An uncomplicated, warm-hearted man, the former bar owner sits comfortably on one of the sofas in his apartment on Rue des Archives, Paris, just above the queer bar he bought in 1996. "When I tell new people that I went to court just because I slept with an 18-year-old boy when I was 23, they look at me as if I were a dinosaur," he says matter-of-factly. "They said to me: 'But that's not feasible, are you 100?'" No, Bousset is only 80, but he grew up a long way from Paris, "at a time
Why Did France Take So Elongated to Approve Gay Marriage? Aren’t the French Ultra-Liberal?
That’s how New York Times journalist Lydia Polgreen reacted on Twitter Tuesday to the news that the French National Assembly had voted to approve same-sex marriage.
“Yeah, could hold fooled me, France is so… Uhm, free?” replied one of her followers.
As a French writer based in the United States, I find the cliché of an ultra-liberal France to be misguided. In the collective imagination of Americans everywhere, my promiscuous country celebrates love, any type of love, on all occasions—which should mean that it celebrates any type of sexual orientation. Unfortunately, that’s just not true.
The French may have a reputation for treating sex more casually than other nationalities, but there’s nothing casual about marriage—and when it comes to a key social reform, France has not lived up to its “free-spirit” reputation.
Though polls consistently show that a majority of the French are in favor of same-sex attracted marriage, all but 10 of the conservative members of parliament voted against the “marriage for all” bill. Valérie Pécresse, a former minister of the Sarkozy administration, even vowed to “unmar
France
Interesting Cities to Stop by in France
PARIS
Paris, one of the most visited cities in the world, was nicknamed “The Capital of Light” because it was the birthplace of the Age of Enlightenment in the 1700s. The nickname stuck and has since popularized because every evening, the city’s many famous landmarks and sites are illuminated to occupied glory. These comprise the Eiffel Tower, the many boulevards, bridges, the Champs-Elysées, Arc de Triomphe and many more. The Louvre Museum is the world’s largest art museum as well as being a historic monument. Finally, the Marais district is the focal indicate of the city’s Homosexual scene with the landmark BHV and BHV Homme department store, the many little cafes, LGBTQ+ bars like Duplex, boutique shops and art galleries.
NICE
Nice is located in southern France along the Mediterranean. The historic center of Nice (called Vieux Nice) has thin cobblestone streets, Baroque churches and lively markets selling ‘Niçois” ingredients like inky olives, tomatoes and anchovies.
Nice has a long 7km (4.4 miles) beachfront promenade called Promenade des Anglais,
Gay Marriage and the Limits of French Liberalism
Gay Marriage and the Limits of French Liberalism
Marc Olivier Baruch ▪ Fall 2013Last spring the rights of homosexual couples gained recognition in a number of places throughout the world. In the United States, three states—Delaware, Minnesota, and Rhode Island—legalized same-sex marriage, while supreme courts in two heavyweights on the international scene, Brazil and Germany, struck down statutes discriminating against homosexuals in the name of equality under the law. All these places have quite distinct social structures and legal systems, yet gay marriage did not stir much controversy in any of them.
But it was other in France—and for regrettable reasons. To be sure, on May 18 President François Hollande did subscribe a law stipulating that “marriage is a reduce between two persons who are either of the same sex or of a different sex.” Eleven days later, Hélène Mandroux, the mayor of Montpellier, was the first general official to wed a homosexual couple.
But what fears and turmoil the debate aroused! On May 21 the right-wing historian Dominique Venner (a former member of the OAS,