2013, May 29. Leaning over her register, the registrar cannot hold back her tears, choked by the emotion of uniting, for the first time in France, two men: Vincent Autin, an activist for the homosexual cause of the first hour, and Bruno Boileau, his companion. Like her, in the meeting room of the town hall of Montpellier (Hérault), everyone knows that he is living a moment of history.
Even we journalists, huddled on a platform, are torn between the desire to live this moment fully, to talk about it to our grandchildren, and that of reporting on it in our respective newspapers. To me, 20 minutes. Eye in the viewfinder of my camera, I feel, with each word that resonates in this room, with each gesture, a shiver runs through me. “Tonight, discrimination has fallen,” proclaims Hélène Mandroux, the mayor, who has been campaigning for years to make this union possible.
” You got it ? You got it ? »
It’s time for the exchange of consents. Everyone holds their breath. At the microphone, the two Montpellier residents exchange a brief “Yes”. But historic. Then a kiss. Symbolic. I absolutely need it. I take my camera, and I just have time to capture the moment. I’m furious, the photo is a little blurry. Around me, all the photographers have their noses on their cameras, to be sure to have lived up to this memorable kiss. ” You got it ? You got it ? ask some people.
Immediately, in my little notebook, I scribble the first words of the newlyweds. “Love has triumphed over hate,” exclaims Vincent Boileau-Autin, in front of the guests and the journalists. You have to love yourself, in our society, it is difficult enough. Outside, on the forecourt of the town hall, a thousand people exult, and claim to see the bride and groom. The couple rushes out onto the terrace and greets the crowd, like a princely couple.
I would have almost forgotten, that day, the fears that this first union between two men had aroused, in Montpellier. In the end, nothing, or almost nothing, disturbed the party. After a threatening anonymous call, searches were carried out at the town hall. In vain. An opponent, who had lit a smoke bomb, was surrounded by the imposing security service. Without difficulty. Only the crying of a baby drowned, for a moment, the words of Hélène Mandroux. A marriage like any other, finally.