“We first want to convey a message of love. We are in a place, in a district, in a city where we want everyone to have their place. With her introductory speech, Alexandra Cordebard, mayor of the 10th arrondissement of Paris, leaves no room for doubt. This May 17, International Day against LGBTQIA + phobias, the imposing town hall rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin no longer belongs to elected officials but to the members of the community behind it.
This Wednesday, the evening imagined by the collective La Cour des miracles began with the inauguration of a photo exhibition Magical nights. Throughout the month of Pride, the works of a dozen photographers, representing queer Parisian parties, will be highlighted. “The objective of this exhibition is to show that the LGBTQIA + community occupies the public space which has been forbidden to it for too long”, indicates Laura Salinas, of the group La Cour des miracles.
Then the drag show, piloted by this same collective, began in the village hall of the town hall. From Velma Velor to Charlibido, drag-queens, drag-kings and drag-queers followed one another in front of a conquered public.
“We are in halftone”
“However, it is a bitter May 17. We are celebrating ten years of marriage for all, which should make the party even crazier, but, in view of the recurring attacks from the far right on the rights of women and queer people, we are in halftone,” advance Cruci, drag-queen co-hostess of the evening with the famous Coco Ricard.
This is why the event magic nights is also charitable. A online kitty was launched for the benefit of Family Planning. It will remain open throughout Pride month. “It’s a way of remembering that LGBT struggles must be fought on the same front,” concludes Cruci, while the collective recalls that Planned Parenthood is “an essential ally against hate speech against transgender people and drag artists” and “a militant feminist movement that defends the right to contraception, abortion and sexuality education” .