On Monday, the government will unveil its 2023-2026 plan to combat hatred and discrimination against LGBT+ people. Among the main axes mentioned: training the forces of order, supporting associations, better punishing insults in stadiums or including homoparental families in forms at school…
This plan of a hundred measures claims to be part of the continuity of the actions carried out in favor of equal rights under the previous five-year term, such as the PMA “for all” – many LGBT + associations deplore, however, that trans men cannot benefit from it – the opening of blood donation to homosexual and bisexual men or the prohibition of conversion therapy.
Since 2016, registered anti-LGBT + acts have increased by 129%, underlines the office of Minister Delegate Isabelle Rome, responsible for Equality between women and men, diversity and equal opportunities. It is she who will present the plan to the SOS homophobia association.
The filing of a complaint remains marginal
In 2022, SOS Homophobia received 1,195 testimonies of LGBTphobia situations in France, an increase of 5% compared to 2021.
Filing a complaint also remains marginal: only 20% of victims of threats or violence and 5% of victims of insults file a complaint.
“The measures announced in recent years, and aimed at improving the management of LGBTIphobia by the police services (…), are struggling to have substantial and positive effects on the ground. As such, they must imperatively be continued and amplified. It is also essential that these institutions be bound by a duty of exemplarity and take full measure of the situation of violence exercised against LGBTI people, “wrote SOS homophobia in its 2023 report published in May.
The plan insists in particular on the reinforcement of the initial and continuous training of the police and gendarmerie forces. By May 2024, the goal is to train 100% of the workforce in these issues. We “are going to take stock of local attacks with the aim of strengthening security patrols in the right places, at the right time”, indicates Isabelle Rome’s cabinet.
“Stadium ban”
“For any person who will be convicted by a court for homophobic remarks in a stadium, we will work to ensure that the judge pronounces in principle an additional sentence of stadium ban”, underlines the same source.
Some 7 million euros, in addition to the 3 million already announced in August, will be allocated to strengthen and sustain support for LGBT + centers.
The plan also plans to fight against school bullying of an LGBTphobic nature by setting up adult referents in colleges and high schools. Announcements that come a few months after the suicide, in January, of Lucas, 13, who suffered homophobic harassment from other boys in his college.
“The majority of LGBTIphobias in schools take place in middle school (34%) and high school (35%). They are manifested above all in rejection, insults, in particular through the use of gender stereotypes, or even harassment, in particular on social networks”, underlines SOS homophobia in its last annual report, basing its analysis on the testimonies which it have been addressed. The association concluded the chapter on the subject by indicating that: “LGBTIphobic aggression in the school environment therefore hinders the personal development of the victims, but also prevents them from following a normal and peaceful schooling, which undoubtedly involves long-term consequences. term on their educational and professional trajectory. »