French LGBT+ Orgs Accuse Far-Right Politician Of Transphobia Following Comments On Cannes Win For Transgender ‘Emilia Perez’ Star

Melanie Goodfellow
·2 min read
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French LGBT+ groups have filed a complaint with the Paris Public Prosecutor against far-right politician Marion Maréchal-Le Pen accusing her of “transphobic insult” for comments she made about Karla Sofía Gascón’s Best Actress win at the Cannes Film Festival over the weekend.

Gascón made history as the first transgender actress to win the Cannes Best Actress prize alongside co-stars Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz for their performances in Jacques Audiard gangster musical Emilia Perez.

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In response to the win, Maréchal Le Pen posted on X: “So a man has won the Best Actress prize…  progress for the left is the erasure of women and mothers.”

Spanish actress Gascón, who plays a Mexican drug lord undergoing a sex change, dedicated the prize to “all trans people who suffer every day” and evoked the struggles of trans people in the face of prejudice.

French LGBT+ orgs Mousse, LGBT Families, Adheos, Quazar, LBGTI+ Federation and STOP homophobia said they had filed a complaint against Maréchal-Le Pen on Monday with the Paris Public Prosecutor for “insult due to gender identity”.

They noted in a statement that the offence is punishable by one year of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros under French law.

Maréchal Le Pen dismissed the filing in an interview with French radio station France Inter on Tuesday morning, saying: “I’m not going to let myself be intimidated by legal threats from LGBT militant- activists… the truth is that being a man or a woman is a biological reality, whether you like it or not. The XX and XY chromosomes cannot be undone.”

Maréchal Le Pen is currently on the campaign trail for European Parliament elections in June, as head of Reconquête!, the far-right party founded by former failed presidential candidate Eric Zemmour.

The LGBT+ groups noted that Zemmour had previously been charged and found guilty of homophobia in September 2023, in relation to comments he made on the populist news channel CNews in 2019.

“Marion Maréchal Le Pen denies the existence of transgender people, as well as the violence and discrimination these people are the victim of every day,” said Étienne Deshoulières, the lawyer representing the LGBT group collective.

STOP homophobie General Secretary Terrence Khatchadourian suggested that Maréchal-Le Pen’s comments – which he qualified as “illegal behaviour” reinforced a climate of violence for LGBT+ people in France.

“Marion Maréchal-Le Pen’s speeches are also heard by those who take action,” he said. “Since 2016, violence against LGBT+ people has exploded by more than 129%, with the largest increase affecting transgender people. We are therefore more determined than ever to protect them.”

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