The town hall of Paris in the colors of the American flags and the LGBT community, June 13, 2016 (Illustration). – BERTRAND GUAY AFP
It is a declaration which may seem symbolic, but which intervenes in a European context tense on the subject. On this World Day against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia, the city of Paris is considering declaring itself an “LGBTQI + zone of freedom”.
Concretely, Jean-Luc Romero-Michel, deputy in charge of human rights, integration and the fight against discrimination, will make a wish in this direction at the next Paris Council. “Concrete measures to protect and support LGBTQI + audiences” will then be announced, while the city says it is strengthening its LGBTQIphobia training programs for City of Paris agents.
I will wish the next Paris Council to declare the city an “LGBTQI + zone of freedom”, in the face of the development of “Anti-LGBTQI +” zones in Poland.
Beyond a statute, it is a set of measures and advice in favor of rights#NothingWarring #PMAforall pic.twitter.com/NLoJWlZsQ7
– Jean-Luc Romero-Michel (@JeanLucRomero) May 17, 2021
“Worrisome decline in rights”
A commemorative plaque dedicated to Jean Diot and Bruno Lenoir rue Léopold-Bellan, the last two French people known to have been sentenced to the death penalty for a homosexual practice, will also be unveiled on Monday.
The town hall underlines “the worrying decline of rights and the repression which falls on LGBTQI + people in the world”. For example, since last year, nearly a hundred Polish local authorities have proclaimed themselves “zones without LGBT ideology”. In April, the leader of the ruling Polish nationalist conservatives Jaroslaw Kaczynski denounced the LGBT community as a “threat to Polish identity, nation and state”.
The mayor of Paris is not the only organization to worry about LGBT rights. In March, the European Parliament adopted a resolution proclaiming the European Union a “zone of freedom” for LGBT people. In May, a collective of elected officials from La République en Marche published a column urging to “declare Paris a zone of LGBTQI + freedom”. They were therefore heard by the mayor of Paris.