Six organisations defending LGBT+ rights say they have filed a complaint for "transphobic insult" against far-right French politician Marion Maréchal, after comments targeting Cannes-winning transgender actress.
Transgender actress Karla Sofia Gascon received, along with the Americans Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana as well as the Mexican Adriana Paz, a joint Best Actress prize on Saturday at the 77th Cannes Film Festival for the film Emilia Perez by French director Jacques Audiard.
Gascon – the first trans woman to win this prize at Cannes – plays the title role of a ruthless Mexican drug lord Manitas, who hires a lawyer to help him become a woman.
Emilia Perez – which sees the lead actresses and cast sing and dance their way through the story – also went on to win the Jury prize at the festival.
Marion Maréchal, who is head of the European list for the far-right Reconquest party, posted her reaction to this on Sunday on social network X.
"It is therefore a man who receives the prize for... female interpretation at Cannes. Progress for the left is the erasure of women and mothers."
Insult based on gender identity
In a joint press release sent to French news agency AFP, the associations Mousse, Stop Homophobia, Familles LGBT, Adheos, Quazar and Fédération LBGTI+ announced that they had filed a complaint on Monday in Paris for "insulting based on gender identity".
According to Étienne Deshoulières, lawyer for the organisations, "Marion Maréchal's comments deny the very existence of transgender people, as well as the violence and discrimination to which these people are victims on a daily basis."
When questioned about her position on France Inter radio on Tuesday, Maréchal responded by saying she would not allow herself to be intimidated by legal threats.
"I will not be prevented from continuing to say what is the truth. Being a woman or a man is a biological reality, whether you like it or not. The XX or XY chromosomes cannot be surpassed," she said.
Tough journey
At the festival's closing ceremony on Saturday, Gascon dedicated her prize to "all trans people who suffer". She told the press in Cannes she had wanted to be a girl since she was four years old.
The 52-year-old has written a book about having a gender transition operation at the age of 46, when she already had an acting career, a wife and a daughter.
"It was a very tough journey," she told AFP, hailing her family's courage. "We're normal people who can have the careers they want," said Gascon.
"Being trans is unimportant. A trans person is someone going through a transition. Once they have transitioned, that's it. They are what they are," she said.
According to the NGOs behind the complaint " 85 percent of transgender people have already been victims of discrimination, hate speech or physical or verbal violence in France".
In 2023, 2,870 crimes or offenses (attacks, threats, harassment, etc.) against lesbians, gays, bi and trans people were recorded, a jump of 19 percent compared to 2022, a year already marked by an increase of 13 percent, according to a study by the statistical service of the Interior Ministry published in mid-May.
Senate debate on transgender minors
The legal complaint comes as France's Senate begins debating a bill put forward by the conservative Republicans party (LR) which restricts the ability of transgender minors (whose birth sex and perceived gender do not coincide) to medically transition.
The text notably plans to prohibit the prescription of hormonal treatments before the age of 18 and to limit access to puberty blockers. It also introduces an obligation to review within five years of its promulgation, "to take into account possible advances in scientific knowledge".
Thousands of demonstrators protested against the bill earlier this month with the support of the left-wing party France Unbowed and the Socialists.
"Today, there is an urgent need to defend the rights of all people at a time when right-wing and far-right politicians are attacking the rights of trans people and disseminating false information about trans-identifying children," one of the organisers told AFP.
(with AFP)
