Four LGBT associations have filed a new complaint in order to obtain a lawsuit against the Minister Delegate for Territorial Cohesion Caroline Cayeux for remarks on the opening of marriage to same-sex couples. Their first simple complaint, filed in mid-July, was dismissed at the end of August by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
“Despite the prosecution’s dismissal, the associations decided to force the trial by seizing the examining magistrate”, indicated the associations ADHEOS, Mousse, Stop Homophobia and Gray Pride on Monday in a press release. They filed a complaint with civil action for “public insult” and “incitement to hatred” homophobic against the minister, a procedure which makes it possible to obtain a trial almost automatically in the long term.
An expression that had shocked
Public Senate had asked Caroline Cayeux in mid-July if she maintained old statements dating from 2013 “on marriage for all and adoption for same-sex couples, qualified as a reform of whim and design that goes against nature. “.
The minister initially replied: “Obviously I stand by my words. But I have always said that the law, if it were passed, I would apply it. Then she added: “I have to tell you all the same, I have a lot of friends among those people.” Frankly, it’s a bad trial that I’m being made and it upset me a lot. »
Faced with the outcry aroused by the expression “these people”, in reference to same-sex couples, Caroline Cayeux then declared “regret” past remarks “stupid and clumsy”. She had sent a letter of apology to anti-homophobia associations.
A disputed term “unnatural”
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne had recognized “unfortunate remarks” from her minister. For associations, “the words used by Caroline Cayeux, against nature, are very meaningful. They refer to the terminology of the repression of homosexuals. »
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Me Étienne Deshoulières, underlines in the press release that “the Pétainist law of 1942 used the term against nature to describe same-sex relationships. This law was the source of 10,000 convictions between 1942 and 1978.” This term continues to be used “by the legislation of French-speaking countries which penalizes homosexuality”, according to the associations.