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HOMOPHOBIA

France plummets in LGBT-friendliness rankings after homophobic attacks

The spike in attacks on homosexuals in France over the past year has led to the country dropping a whopping 11 places in just a year in an annual gay travel index.

Published: 11 March 2019 16:27 CET
France plummets in LGBT-friendliness rankings after homophobic attacks
"Homophobia kills": People rally in support of same-sex marriage during a counter-demonstration of a march against gay marriage on November 17, 2012 in Toulouse. Photo: AFP

The Spartacus Gay Travel Index 2019 puts France in 17th place, down from sixth place a year ago.

Canada, Portugal, and Sweden are the friendliest countries for LGBT travellers and they took joint first place in the latest edition of the guide.

Thirteen countries, most of them in Europe, tied for fourth place.

The reasons for France's dramatic fall were a rise in homophobic attacks and the postponement of parliamentary debates on bioethics laws, notably on assisted procreation, which is currently limited in France to heterosexual couples.

READ ALSO: Paris left shocked by another homophobic attack

The Spartacus index ranked 197 countries based on 14 criteria, including anti-discrimination laws, marriage and civil partnership laws, adoption laws, transgender rights and persecution.

The United States dropped from 39th place to 47th.

Chechnya was ranked last of the 197 countries listed by the Berlin-based Spartacus guide, which provides tips for gay travellers on its website and mobile app.

Last autumn in particular saw a spike homophobic attacks in just a few weeks in the French capital.
 
The assaults gained a lot of media coverage in France partly because some of the victims decided to share their experience with a photograph of their injuries on social media.
 
On October 6th, a homophobic assault took place in the capital's 19th arrondissement when two men were violently attacked by two people because they were kissing, with each suffering injuries to the ribs and face.
 
Then on October 8th, two young women were beaten up in public for the same reason and on October 13th a man was attacked in the 15th arrondissement for wearing make-up.
 

Paris police however said at the time that since the beginning of 2018 there had actually been a decrease in homophobic attacks compared to the same period the year before.
 
But gay rights groups advised caution when looking at the official figures. 
 
“We must be careful with the figures because a number of victims of homophobic acts do not go to the police,” said the president of gay rights charity SOS Homophobie Joel Deumier. 
 
 

Member comments

  1. I know from experience that homophobia is often a defence against the fear of homosexual feelings in the perpetrator as well as the need to pick scapegoats. I have met a number of ‘gay bashers’ who through growing up and other circumstances were forced to confront and accept their homosexual feelings. As a general rule those confident in their sexual identity, though feeling uneasy about displays of homosexuality do not feel threatened and therefor do not need to assault those who are different. There are, of course, many other reasons why unbalanced and deprived people will chose to pick on homosexuals

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HOMOPHOBIA

Youth admits vicious gay attack story that shocked Spain was a lie

A young man who claimed eight masked assailants carved a homophobic slur on his buttocks in Madrid in broad daylight, sparking an outcry, has admitted he lied, Spain's Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

Published: 9 September 2021 09:17 CEST
Youth admits vicious gay attack story that shocked Spain was a lie
Photo: Curto de la Torre/AFP

The 20-year-old told police he was attacked on Sunday at the entrance to his apartment building in the trendy Malasana district near the Spanish capital’s lively gay heighbourhood.

He claimed the assailants cut his lower lip with a knife then scored the word “maricón”, meaning “faggot” into his buttocks, while spewing homophobic attacks.

But on Wednesday he “decided to rectify his initial statement and said the injuries allegedly inflicted had been consensual,” an interior ministry source told AFP.

The alleged attack came just two months after a young gay man was beaten to death in northern Spain in another suspected homophobic attack and it drew a sharp rebuke from Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The premier said there was “no place for hatred” and he called an urgent meeting for Friday of Spain’s commission against hate crimes.

Leftist parties and rights groups also accused far-right party Vox of encouraging homophobic attacks with its vocal opposition to gay rights.

News that the young man, who has not been identified, had changed his story sparked a flurry of reaction.

Equality Minister Irene Montero tweeted that “hate crimes against LGBTI people rose 43 percent during the first half of 2021” over the same period last year.

She urged people not to focus on the “tree which hides the forest”.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said it was “anecdotal” that the man had changed his story “because hate crimes have risen”.

“And obviously there is public conduct, online behaviour which encourage hate crimes, lets not trivialise,” he told private television La Sexta.

But Javier Giner, a film director and gay activist, lashed out at the youth, saying he had done “unnecessary and gratuitous harm to all victims of homophobic attacks and to everyone who fights to end them.”

Two months ago Samuel Luiz, 24, was beaten to death near a nightclub in the northern city of Coruna in an attack denounced by Sanchez as “savage and merciless”. It brought huge crowds onto the streets in protest.

A protest called for Wednesday night in central Madrid in response to the supposed attack would still take place, organisers said. 

READ MORE: Is Spain really a tolerant country when it comes to LGBTQ+ people?

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