Fight against anti-LGBT hate goes on, in France and around the world
rfi.frFrance did so in May 2009 – becoming the first country in the world to take that step. The WHO followed in 2019.But despite progress, Tin sees hatred towards LGBT people – especially transgender people – taking on a new and worrying dimension."We are concerned, because the situation is ambivalent," he said."On the one hand, obviously, LGBT people are more and more legitimate ...
But because the homophobic and transphobic people are more and more marginalised, they tend to be more and more radicalised."So they become more aggressive, especially against trans people."In a report released this week, French LGBT+ rights group SOS Homophobie warned of a rise in physical attacks reported by gay and transgender people in 2022.The group received 184 reports of violence last year, nearly 30 percent more than the year before.
It also flagged a 26 percent increase in incidents of transphobia."Transphobia has become a kind of political identity," said Tin."For example, we have a lot of conservative or very far-right movements that focus on trans people or against trans people – something they wouldn’t do 10 or 15 years ago, because for them it was obvious you wouldn’t care about these people, but now it has become part of their political identity to be transphobic." Elsewhere, the situation remains even more dangerous.
The focus of this year's campaign is suspending prison sentences for people convicted for their identity or activities in countries where being gay or transgender is a crime."In all the countries where it seems impossible to decriminalise, at least people can vote and accept the principle of a moratorium – which means, you don't want to change your law, you don't want to change your religion, that's ok.
