“It’s an important place for Marseille and the LGBT+ community, I will definitely talk about it. » For the new season of his LGBTour of the Phocaean city, which he is preparing to relaunch in the sunny days, tourist guide Ludovic Barbier intends to add this last founding act to his story: the opening of the first LGBTQIA + center in Marseille, inaugurated this Saturday in the presence of the Minister responsible for the Fight against Discrimination, Bérangère Couillard. Marseille is the last large city to see such a structure open, when around thirty places already exist in France, such as Lyon since 2014.
The project, launched in 2017, finally saw the light of day thanks to “an alignment of planets”, in the words of Théo Challande Névoret, elected in charge of the Fight against discrimination in Marseille. “The communities, the associations which structured themselves operationally, the funding which followed… Yes, it took time, but today, we have a center which is opening,” he rejoices. It is a day of celebration and an important step forward for the recognition and access to the rights of LGBTQIA + people, we must look forward. » Same speech from the Fierté Marseille Organization association, which organizes Marseille Pride every year and has, since 2022, taken the reins of the creation of the center.
“The LGBT wealth of the city”
“In Marseille, it may have taken years, but that says nothing about the age and LGBT wealth of the city,” also observes Jean-Christophe Testu, president of the LGBTI+ Federation. “The homosexual summer universities on the Luminy campus at the end of the 1970s, and until the 1990s, were something,” he recalls. And it was Gaston Deferre, then Minister of the Interior, who had the police files of homosexuals destroyed. » Still, opening an LGBT+ center requires “relying on a very solid associative fabric” to define a common field of action despite, sometimes, the diversity of struggles. And “it could take years.”
“Paradoxically, visibility in Marseille has never been too obvious,” concedes Jean-Christophe Testu, “We see few rainbow flags compared to other cities, there are few events and bars. » Guide Ludovic Barbier makes the same observation: “There is only one gay club in this city, the New Cancan, and even then, it is under construction. But things are moving. There is BOUM, at Cours Julien, which is a festive and very plural place, with discussion groups, etc. »And then, now, the LGBTQIA+ center: “I hope that this will develop initiatives and vocations,” he continues. They are going to need volunteers, we must support them! »