Transgender actress Karla Sofia Gascon, awarded at Cannes, filed a complaint on Wednesday for “sexist outrage” after a tweet from Marion Maréchal, head of the European list for Reconquête!, Agence France-Presse learned from her lawyer.
This complaint, addressed to the Paris prosecutor’s office, comes two days after that filed by six associations defending the rights of LGBTQIA+ people for “transphobic insult” and aiming at the same remarks.
Karla Sofia Gascon, a 52-year-old Spanish actress, received, along with Americans Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana as well as Mexican Adriana Paz, a joint female performance award on Saturday at the 77e Cannes Film Festival Emilia Perez, by director Jacques Audiard.
In reaction, Marion Maréchal wrote on Sunday on the social network X: “It is therefore a man who receives the prize for… female interpretation at Cannes. Progress for the left is the erasure of women and mothers. »
“We need to put an end to this kind of talk”, reacted Karla Sofia Gascon, quoted in a press release from her lawyer. The complaint against “sexist outrage due to gender identity”. According to M.e Etienne Deshoulières, lawyer of the actress, “only the person targeted by the remarks can act on this basis”.
“It was therefore necessary for Karla Sofia Gascon to act alongside LGBT+ associations to have Marion Maréchal convicted of sexist outrage due to gender identity”he added.
“Marion Maréchal’s comments deny the very existence of transgender people »
In a joint press release, the associations Mousse, Stop Homophobia, Familles LGBT, Adheos, Quazar and Fédération LBGTI+ announced their filing of a complaint on Monday in Paris for “insult based on gender identity”.
According to M.e Etienne Deshoulières, who is also the association’s lawyer, “Marion Maréchal’s comments deny the very existence of transgender people, as well as the violence and discrimination to which these people are victims on a daily basis”.
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In the movie Emilia PerezKarla Sofia Gascon stars as a ruthless Mexican drug lord who begins a gender transition.
The first transgender woman to receive this award at Cannes, she dedicated it to “all trans people who suffer”. She began her gender transition at age 46.
The associations emphasize that, “in France, 85% of transgender people have already been victims of discrimination, hate speech or physical or verbal violence”.
In 2023, 2,870 crimes or offenses (attacks, threats, harassment, etc.) against lesbians, gays, bi and trans people were recorded in France, a jump of 19% compared to 2022, according to a study by the statistical service of the Ministry of the inside published in mid-May. According to the international Trans Murder Monitoring observatory321 trans and non-binary people were reported murdered worldwide between 1er October 2022 and September 30, 2023. Figures far below reality, most cases not being reported, according to the NGO. 94% of victims were trans women or transfeminine people (people who were not assigned female at birth and whose gender identity is partially or entirely female).